Dasyproctidae

Dasyproctidae is a family of large South American rodents, comprising the agoutis and acouchis. Their fur is a reddish or dark colour above, with a paler underside. They are herbivorous, often feeding on ripe fruit that falls from trees. They live in burrows, and, like squirrels, will bury some of their food for later use.

Dasyproctidae

Geoff Gallice · CC BY 2.0 · 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
CavioideaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 27 million years on record.

The record covers at least 27.3 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 36 occurrencesOligocene — about 2 of 36 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 17 of 36 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 36 occurrencesPleistocene — about 9 of 36 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 1 occurrence20–18 Mya — about 1 occurrence18–17 Mya — about 1 occurrence17–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 4 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 1 occurrence13–12 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences10–9.2 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences9.2–8.1 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences8.1–6.9 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences6.9–5.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.8–4.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.3–1.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.2–0 Mya — about 14 occurrences27.3 Mya11.7 ka34.6 Mya0 Mya

36 occurrences of Dasyproctidae on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

36 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

9 formations

Collón Cura — 40.39°S, 70.21°WCollón Cura — 40.09°S, 70.84°WCollón Cura — 41.00°S, 70.58°WCollón Cura — 42.65°S, 69.70°WSarmiento — 43.28°S, 65.48°WSarmiento — 45.67°S, 68.67°WSarmiento — 42.50°S, 68.52°WSarmiento — 43.30°S, 65.42°WSolimoes — 7.66°S, 72.54°WSolimoes — 10.12°S, 66.88°WCura-Mallín — 37.48°S, 71.23°WPebas — 7.36°S, 74.96°WChichinales — 39.13°S, 67.75°WSalla — 17.18°S, 67.63°WRío Frías — 44.58°S, 71.23°WCollón Curá — 41.30°S, 69.58°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Dasyproctidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 18 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Dasyproctidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Dasyproctidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

574 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 28 sites for Dasyproctidae, 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

21 references

Each of the 36 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. 9 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 Dasyproctidae

Credit
Geoff Gallice
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itCavioidea through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

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