Metaxytherium

Searched as Chirotherium. The Paleobiology Database treats Metaxytherium as the accepted name.

Chirotherium, also known as Cheirotherium (‘hand-beast’), is a Triassic trace fossil consisting of five-fingered (pentadactyle) footprints and whole tracks. These look, by coincidence, remarkably like the hands of apes and bears, with the outermost toe having evolved to extend out to the side like a thumb, although probably only functioning to provide a firmer grip in mud. Chirotherium tracks were first found in 1834 in Lower Triassic sandstone (Buntsandstein) in Thuringia, Germany, dating from about 243 million years ago (mya).

Metaxytherium

Ballista at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
HalitheriinaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Dugongidae
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Sirenia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Sirenia

Time the record covers

At least 256 million years on record.

The record covers at least 259.857 Mya to 3.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 290.1 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Permian — about 7 of 381 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 26 of 381 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 85 of 381 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 19 of 381 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 1 of 381 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 0 of 381 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 0 of 381 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 0 of 381 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 1 of 381 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 381 occurrencesEocene — about 0 of 381 occurrencesOligocene — about 6 of 381 occurrencesMiocene — about 205 of 381 occurrencesPliocene — about 32 of 381 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 381 occurrences296–286 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences286–276 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences276–266 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences266–256 Mya — about 2 occurrences256–247 Mya — about 34 occurrences247–237 Mya — about 79 occurrences237–227 Mya — about 9 occurrences227–217 Mya — about 4 occurrences217–207 Mya — about 4 occurrences207–197 Mya — about 3 occurrences197–187 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences99–89 Mya — about 1 occurrence39–30 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences30–20 Mya — about 18 occurrences20–9.9 Mya — about 136 occurrences9.9–0 Mya — about 89 occurrences259.857 Mya3.6 Mya296 Mya0 Mya

381 occurrences of Metaxytherium on record, most of them in the Miocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

381 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

93 formations

Burgeschleinitz — 48.63°N, 15.78°EBurgeschleinitz — 48.66°N, 15.79°EBurgeschleinitz — 48.60°N, 15.86°EBurgeschleinitz — 48.74°N, 15.90°EBurgeschleinitz — 48.76°N, 15.95°EGrès d'Antully — 46.84°N, 4.43°EGrès d'Antully — 46.90°N, 4.42°EGrès d'Antully — 46.61°N, 4.48°EGrès d'Antully — 46.97°N, 4.31°EMoenkopi — 34.92°N, 110.26°WMoenkopi — 35.04°N, 111.03°WMoenkopi — 35.07°N, 110.87°WMoenkopi — 35.52°N, 111.37°WMoenkopi — 37.17°N, 113.04°WMoenkopi — 35.80°N, 111.44°WMoenkopi — 35.84°N, 111.47°WMoenkopi — 34.50°N, 110.07°WMoenkopi — 37.43°N, 113.13°WCalvert — 38.60°N, 76.51°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WCalvert — 38.40°N, 76.50°WCalvert — 37.66°N, 77.11°WCalvert — 38.74°N, 76.56°WCalvert — 38.53°N, 76.52°WCalvert — 38.16°N, 76.83°WSahabi — 30.14°N, 20.75°ESahabi — 30.00°N, 20.00°EChirotheriensandstein — 50.43°N, 10.78°EChirotheriensandstein — 50.42°N, 10.92°EPeace River — 27.91°N, 81.99°WPeace River — 27.70°N, 81.85°WPeace River — 28.67°N, 80.91°WPeace River — 27.90°N, 81.80°WPeace River — 27.78°N, 81.94°WPeace River — 29.68°N, 82.37°WLeitha — 47.81°N, 16.63°ELeitha — 48.01°N, 16.78°ELeitha — 47.83°N, 16.45°ELeitha — 47.75°N, 16.68°ELeitha — 47.97°N, 16.61°EBromsgrove Sandstone — 52.67°N, 2.17°WBromsgrove Sandstone — 52.73°N, 2.31°WTorreya — 30.50°N, 84.50°WTorreya — 30.60°N, 84.58°WTarporley Siltstone — 52.81°N, 2.70°WTarporley Siltstone — 53.38°N, 2.43°WPirabas — 0.60°S, 47.31°WPirabas — 0.48°S, 48.17°WPirabas — 1.05°S, 47.16°WRed Peak — 43.42°N, 106.93°WRed Peak — 43.33°N, 107.12°WRed Peak — 43.28°N, 107.18°WRed Peak — 43.67°N, 108.03°WGrès Inférieurs du Lyonnais — 45.25°N, 5.32°EGrès Inférieurs du Lyonnais — 45.82°N, 4.79°EGrès Inférieurs du Lyonnais — 45.88°N, 4.80°EGrès Inférieurs du Roubreau — 44.53°N, 4.29°EGrès Inférieurs du Roubreau — 44.60°N, 4.34°ETimezgadiouine — 30.82°N, 9.09°WTimezgadiouine — 31.07°N, 8.96°WAlachua — 29.55°N, 82.52°WAlachua — 29.65°N, 82.60°WSabbie di Asti — 45.07°N, 8.10°ESabbie di Asti — 44.77°N, 8.36°ESabbie di Asti — 44.70°N, 7.85°EStudienka — 48.20°N, 17.00°EAmpelouzos — 35.14°N, 24.99°EAmpelouzos — 35.06°N, 24.94°ERoka — 35.61°N, 23.84°ERoka — 35.50°N, 23.67°EAchladia — 35.20°N, 26.16°EAchladia — 35.20°N, 26.09°EInférieure — 43.75°N, 3.36°ECerro de Las Cabras — 32.49°S, 68.89°WCerro de Las Cabras — 32.37°S, 68.95°W

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The named rock units Metaxytherium has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 69 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 155 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Metaxytherium and its relatives

Miocene

Where Metaxytherium and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,372 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 225 sites for Metaxytherium, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

173 references

Each of the 381 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 161 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Metaxytherium

Credit
Ballista at English Wikipedia
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itHalitheriinae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bruno 1839