Cyprinodontidae

Pupfish are a group of small killifish belonging to ten genera of the family Cyprinodontidae of ray-finned fish. Pupfish are especially noted for being found in extreme and isolated situations. They are primarily found in North America, South America, and the Caribbean region. As of August 2006, 120 nominal species and 9 subspecies were known. Several pupfish species are extinct and most extant species are listed. In the U.S., the most well-known pupfish species may be the Devils Hole pupfish, native to Devils Hole on the Nevada side of Death Valley National Park. Since 1995 the Devils Hole pupfish has been in a nearly steady decline, where it was close to extinction at 35–68 fish in 2013.

Cyprinodontidae

P.V. Loiselle · 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
CyprinodontoideiPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Cyprinodontiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Cyprinodontiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cyprinodontiformes

Time the record covers

At least 54 million years on record.

The record covers at least 56 Mya to 1.8 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 59.24 Mya to 774 ka.

Paleocene — about 1 of 43 occurrencesEocene — about 2 of 43 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 43 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 34 of 43 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 43 occurrencesPleistocene — about 2 of 43 occurrences60–58 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences30–28 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences10–8.1 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences8.1–6.0 Mya — about 20 occurrences6.0–4.0 Mya — about 13 occurrences4.0–2.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.0–0 Mya — about 1 occurrence56 Mya1.8 Mya60 Mya0 Mya

43 occurrences of Cyprinodontidae on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

43 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

8 formations

Sorbas — 37.09°N, 2.09°WKuldana — 33.62°N, 71.92°EMaíz Gordo — 24.20°S, 64.30°WTitus Canyon — 36.66°N, 116.84°WYesares — 37.08°N, 2.09°WNiveau du gypse d'Aix — 43.52°N, 5.45°EColombacci — 44.22°N, 11.77°EBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°W

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The named rock units Cyprinodontidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 34 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cyprinodontidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Cyprinodontidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

508 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 43 sites for Cyprinodontidae, 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

18 references

Each of the 43 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. 6 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 Cyprinodontidae

Credit
P.V. Loiselle
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Cyprinodontidae was found in Sketchfab.

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 itCyprinodontoidei through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0.