Dipodomys

Kangaroo rats, small mostly nocturnal rodents of genus Dipodomys, are native to arid areas of western North America. The common name derives from their bipedal form. They hop in a manner similar to the much larger kangaroo, but developed this mode of locomotion independently, like several other clades of rodents.

Dipodomys

Juan Cruzado Cortés · CC BY-SA 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
Also called
kangaroo ratPBDB
Sits inside
DipodomyinaePBDB
Diet
granivorePBDB
Life habit
saltatorialPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 4.6 million years on record.

The record covers at least 4.7 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 9.4 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 2 of 145 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 28 of 145 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 107 of 145 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 8 of 145 occurrences9.6–9.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.2–8.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.9–8.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.6–8.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.3–7.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.9–7.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.6–7.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.9–6.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.6–6.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.3–5.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.9–5.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.6–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.3–5.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.0–4.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.6–4.3 Mya — about 4 occurrences4.3–4.0 Mya — about 4 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.6–3.3 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.3–3.0 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.0–2.6 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.6–2.3 Mya — about 5 occurrences2.3–2.0 Mya — about 5 occurrences2.0–1.6 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.6–1.3 Mya — about 8 occurrences1.3–990 ka Mya — about 19 occurrences990 ka–660 ka Mya — about 19 occurrences660 ka–330 ka Mya — about 19 occurrences330 ka–0 Mya — about 37 occurrences4.7 Mya11.7 ka9.9 Mya0 Mya

145 occurrences of Dipodomys 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

145 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

"unnamed sandstone" — 33.90°N, 117.00°WPalm Spring — 32.90°N, 117.10°WSt. David — 32.00°N, 110.20°WSt. David — 31.97°N, 110.30°WSan Timoteo — 33.90°N, 117.00°WPauba — 33.90°N, 117.00°WKingsdown — 37.04°N, 100.50°WKingsdown — 37.20°N, 100.30°WGila Conglomerate — 32.58°N, 109.48°WGila Conglomerate — 32.69°N, 109.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.80°WPalos Verdes Sand — 34.00°N, 118.20°WQuiburis — 32.50°N, 110.60°WTemecula Arkose — 33.90°N, 117.00°WCrooked Creek — 37.20°N, 100.30°WWhite Narrows — 35.70°N, 115.20°WSeymour — 33.80°N, 99.70°WTurlock Lake — 37.06°N, 120.20°WAlamosa — 37.37°N, 105.75°WTule — 34.50°N, 101.30°WTecopa Lake Beds — 36.00°N, 116.25°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Dipodomys has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 42 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Dipodomys and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Dipodomys and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

652 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 121 sites for Dipodomys, 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

43 references

Each of the 145 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. 31 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 Dipodomys

Credit
Juan Cruzado Cortés
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Dipodomys phillipsii · ibm:gpp:CNMA 44322

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itDipodomyinae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1841