Colymboides

The genus Colymboides contains three species of early loon dating from the late Oligocene or early Miocene. They are considered to be the earliest known unambiguous gaviiform fossils. The genus is widely known from early Priabonian – about 37 million years ago in the Late Eocene – to Early Miocene limnic and marine rocks of western Eurasia north of the Alpide belt, between the Atlantic and the former Turgai Sea. It is usually placed in the Gaviidae already, but usually in a subfamily Colymboidinae, with the modern-type loons making up the Gaviinae. But the Colymboides material is generally quite distinct from modern loons, and may actually belong in a now-extinct family of primitive gaviiforms. The best studied species, Colymboides minutus, was described by Robert Storer as being much smaller than modern loons and not as well adapted to diving.

No picture of Colymboides was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none. Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is. GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Colymboides, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
GaviidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Coelurosauria
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Theropoda

Time the record covers

At least 4.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 27.3 Mya to 23.04 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 13.82 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 4 occurrencesOligocene — about 2 of 4 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 2 of 4 occurrencesMiocene34–34 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences32–32 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–29 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–27 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences22–22 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences27.3 Mya23.04 Mya34.4 Mya13.3 Mya

4 occurrences of Colymboides on record, most of them in the Oligocene. 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

4 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

2 formations

Pungo River — 35.40°N, 76.80°WBorgloon — 50.85°N, 4.82°E

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The named rock units Colymboides has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Colymboides and its relatives

Oligocene

Where Colymboides and its relatives were recorded in the Oligocene.

Found in the same rock

542 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 4 sites for Colymboides, 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

4 references

Each of the 4 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. 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 content0

No picture of Colymboides was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none.

Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is.

GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Colymboides, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

No 3D scan of Colymboides 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 itGaviidae through timeFormations of the OligoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Milne-Edwards 1867