Desmana

Desmana is a genus of mole that contains a single living species, the Russian desman (Desmana moschata). A number of fossil species are known from throughout Eurasia.

Desmana

John Cummings · 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
Also called
Russian desmanPBDB
Sits inside
TalpidaePBDB
Diet
insectivorePBDB, for Talpidae
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 8.8 million years on record.

The record covers at least 9.67 Mya to 774 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Oligocene — about 0 of 104 occurrencesMiocene — about 24 of 104 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 42 of 104 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 37 of 104 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 2 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 6 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 4 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 9 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 13 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 12 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 13 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 14 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 9 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 11 occurrences9.67 Mya774 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

104 occurrences of Desmana on record, most of them in the Pliocene. 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

104 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

13 formations

Alfambra — 40.39°N, 2.61°WAlfambra — 40.35°N, 2.60°WAlfambra — 40.59°N, 2.69°WAlfambra — 40.52°N, 2.72°WValdeganga — 39.15°N, 1.67°WSpilia — 41.15°N, 23.48°ERavin de Ratavoux — 43.78°N, 5.45°EReuver clay — 50.90°N, 6.45°EKomnina — 40.43°N, 21.80°ELefkon — 41.17°N, 23.50°EKhapry — 47.24°N, 39.71°EFratesti — 44.17°N, 24.53°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°EAlhambra — 37.24°N, 3.61°WEdelény — 48.39°N, 20.64°EForest Bed — 52.85°N, 1.47°E

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The named rock units Desmana has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 76 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Desmana and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Desmana and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

1,029 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 98 sites for Desmana, 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

40 references

Each of the 104 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. 28 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 Desmana

Credit
John Cummings
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Desmana 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 itTalpidae through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Guldenstaedt 1777