Cryptomys

Cryptomys is the genus of mole-rats, endemic to Africa. Most of the species formerly placed in this genus were moved to the genus Fukomys in 2006.

Cryptomys

Jimmy Whatmore, South Africa · CC0 · 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
BathyergidaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Bathyergidae
Life habit
fossorialPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 3.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 7.246 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 22 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 6 of 22 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 12 of 22 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 4 of 22 occurrences7.5–7.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.2–7.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.0–6.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.7–6.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.5–6.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.2–5.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.9–5.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.7–5.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.4–5.2 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.2–4.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.9–4.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.6–4.4 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.4–4.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.9–3.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.6–3.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3.4–3.1 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3.1–2.8 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.6–2.3 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences2.1–1.8 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.8–1.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.5–1.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.3–1.0 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.0–775 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence775 ka–516 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences516 ka–258 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences258 ka–0 Mya — about 5 occurrences3.6 Mya11.7 ka7.7 Mya0 Mya

22 occurrences of Cryptomys on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

22 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

4 formations

Kromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°EVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Cryptomys has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cryptomys and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Cryptomys and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

376 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 19 sites for Cryptomys, 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

17 references

Each of the 22 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. 5 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 Cryptomys

Credit
Jimmy Whatmore, South Africa
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Cryptomys hottentotus · LACM:Mammals:58370

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 itBathyergidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1964