Ctenomys

A tuco-tuco is a neotropical rodent in the family Ctenomyidae. Tuco-tucos belong to the only living genus of the family Ctenomyidae, Ctenomys, but they include approximately 60 different species. The common name, "tuco-tuco", comes from the "tuc-tuc" sound they make while they dig their burrows.

Ctenomys

Ezequiel Racker · 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
Sits inside
CtenomyidaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Life habit
fossorialPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 2.9 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 3.8 Mya to 0 Mya.

Pliocene — about 7 of 57 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 35 of 57 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 14 of 57 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.7–3.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.6–3.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.4–3.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.3–3.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.2–3.0 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.0–2.9 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.7–2.6 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.6–2.4 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.4–2.3 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.1–2.0 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.0–1.9 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.9–1.7 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.7–1.6 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences1.4–1.3 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences1.3–1.1 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences1.1–1.0 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences1.0–860 ka Mya — about 1.0 occurrences860 ka–717 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence717 ka–573 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence573 ka–430 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence430 ka–287 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences287 ka–143 ka Mya — about 5 occurrences143 ka–0 Mya — about 28 occurrences3 Mya11.7 ka4.3 Mya0 Mya

57 occurrences of Ctenomys 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

57 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

17 formations

Tarija — 21.53°S, 64.73°WTarija — 21.50°S, 64.75°WUquía — 23.33°S, 65.33°WUquía — 23.24°S, 65.36°WLujan — 34.60°S, 59.15°WLujan — 38.75°S, 60.60°WSan Andres — 38.18°S, 57.65°WSan Andres — 38.12°S, 57.70°WMatadero Saldungaray — 38.25°S, 61.75°WMatadero Saldungaray — 38.75°S, 61.75°WNuapua — 20.75°S, 63.07°WNuapua — 20.87°S, 63.07°WArroyo Seco — 38.27°S, 57.85°WChacra La Blanqueada — 38.36°S, 62.15°WAgua Blanca — 38.48°S, 61.80°WLibertad — 34.15°S, 58.01°WTafí del Valle — 26.92°S, 65.70°WLa Invernada — 33.24°S, 62.42°WMiramar — 38.17°S, 57.65°WSalto Ander Egg — 32.07°S, 60.55°WBotucatu — 29.77°S, 50.55°WDolores — 34.38°S, 57.88°WSan Andrés — 38.62°S, 58.83°W

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The named rock units Ctenomys has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 28 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ctenomys and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Ctenomys and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

332 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 40 sites for Ctenomys, 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

41 references

Each of the 57 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. 29 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 content3

Picture of Ctenomys

Credit
Ezequiel Racker
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Ctenomys avitus · MLP:Pv:91-IV-25-212

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

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 itCtenomyidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. de Blainville 1826