Chrysochloridae

Golden moles are small insectivorous burrowing mammals endemic to Sub-Saharan Africa. They belong to the family Chrysochloridae and as such they are taxonomically distinct from the true moles, family Talpidae, and other mole-like families, all of which, to various degrees, they resemble as a result of evolutionary convergence. There are 21 species. Some are relatively common, whereas others are rare and endangered.

Chrysochloridae

suncana · CC BY 4.0 · 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
Also called
golden molePBDB
Sits inside
TenrecoideaPBDB
Diet
insectivore, carnivorePBDB
Life habit
fossorialPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 41 million years on record.

The record covers at least 41.03 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 48.07 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 3 of 28 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 28 occurrencesMiocene — about 5 of 28 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 12 of 28 occurrencesPleistocene — about 6 of 28 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.8–8.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.2–6.5 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences6.5–4.9 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.9–3.3 Mya — about 8 occurrences3.3–1.6 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.6–0 Mya — about 6 occurrences41.03 Mya11.7 ka49 Mya0 Mya

28 occurrences of Chrysochloridae on record, most of them in the Pliocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

28 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

6 formations

Varswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EVarswater & Bredasdorp — 32.98°S, 18.15°ELegetet — 0.18°S, 35.27°E

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The named rock units Chrysochloridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 13 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Chrysochloridae and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Chrysochloridae and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

517 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 23 sites for Chrysochloridae, 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

23 references

Each of the 28 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. 11 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 content1

Picture of Chrysochloridae

Credit
suncana
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Chrysochloridae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itTenrecoidea through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1825