Delphinoidea

Delphinoidea are the largest group of toothed whales, including 66 genera in 6 families. The largest living member of the superfamily is the orca, which can reach 6 tons, while the smallest is the vaquita.

Delphinoidea

Uncredited · 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
DelphinidaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Odontoceti
Life habit
aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Cetacea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marine,freshwaterPBDB, for Odontoceti

Time the record covers

At least 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 2 of 888 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 176 of 888 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 207 of 888 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 134 of 888 occurrencesPleistocene28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 4 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 4 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 4 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 4 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 5 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 9 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 9 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 8 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 14 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 14 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 12 occurrences10–9.3 Mya — about 12 occurrences9.3–8.4 Mya — about 12 occurrences8.4–7.4 Mya — about 12 occurrences7.4–6.5 Mya — about 20 occurrences6.5–5.6 Mya — about 22 occurrences5.6–4.6 Mya — about 56 occurrences4.6–3.7 Mya — about 67 occurrences3.7–2.8 Mya — about 75 occurrences2.8–1.9 Mya — about 40 occurrences1.9–928 ka Mya — about 27 occurrences928 ka–0 Mya — about 451 occurrences23.04 Mya11.7 ka27.8 Mya0 Mya

888 occurrences of Delphinoidea on record. 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

888 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

115 formations

Pisco — 15.58°S, 74.72°WPisco — 15.44°S, 74.87°WPisco — 15.50°S, 74.80°WPisco — 15.55°S, 74.80°WPisco — 14.57°S, 75.73°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WYorktown — 37.04°N, 76.36°WPurisima — 38.05°N, 122.94°WPurisima — 37.29°N, 122.41°WPurisima — 36.98°N, 121.95°WPurisima — 36.97°N, 121.92°WMonterey — 33.79°N, 118.35°WMonterey — 33.60°N, 117.80°WMonterey — 33.56°N, 117.71°WCromer Forest Bed — 52.92°N, 1.34°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.91°N, 1.36°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.45°N, 1.73°EAlmejas — 28.11°N, 115.18°WTangahoe — 39.58°S, 174.28°ESan Mateo — 33.20°N, 117.37°WBahía Inglesa — 27.08°S, 70.84°WBahía Inglesa — 27.14°S, 70.88°WBahía Inglesa — 27.04°S, 70.79°WCalvert — 38.18°N, 76.97°WCalvert — 38.60°N, 76.51°WCalvert — 38.53°N, 76.52°WCalvert — 38.21°N, 76.94°WCalvert — 38.38°N, 76.99°WSan Diego — 32.74°N, 117.17°WSan Diego — 32.90°N, 117.10°WSan Diego — 32.64°N, 117.03°WRed Crag — 51.96°N, 1.35°ERed Crag — 52.09°N, 1.31°ESabbie d'Asti — 45.03°N, 11.85°ESabbie d'Asti — 45.00°N, 8.03°ESabbie d'Asti — 45.00°N, 8.09°ESabbie d'Asti — 44.95°N, 8.11°ESanta Margarita — 37.00°N, 122.00°WSanta Margarita — 35.45°N, 120.28°WSanta Margarita — 36.20°N, 121.08°WEmbetsu — 44.35°N, 141.73°EKattendijk — 51.21°N, 4.43°EKattendijk — 51.17°N, 4.85°EKattendijk — 51.25°N, 4.23°EKattendijk — 51.26°N, 4.27°EWhaler's Bluff — 38.36°S, 141.60°ESanuki — 41.11°N, 141.26°ESanuki — 35.35°N, 140.07°ESanuki — 35.38°N, 139.52°EPińczów Limestone — 50.52°N, 20.53°EPińczów Limestone — 50.90°N, 20.90°EWestkapelle Ground — 51.62°N, 3.88°EWestkapelle Ground — 52.50°N, 2.67°EWestkapelle Ground — 52.17°N, 2.17°EPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.80°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.80°N, 118.28°WGreta Siltstone — 42.97°S, 173.09°EWakkanai — 45.25°N, 141.75°EWakkanai — 44.83°N, 142.00°EKoetoi — 45.39°N, 141.76°EKoetoi — 44.77°N, 141.96°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Delphinoidea has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 91 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 601 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

1,840 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 664 sites for Delphinoidea, and this reads 240 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

343 references

Each of the 888 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. 331 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 Delphinoidea

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itDelphinida through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Flower 1865)