Distichodus

Distichodus is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Distichodontidae, native to Africa. Distichodus of all sizes feed on plant matter, consuming both periphyton and macrophytes, though some species such as D. lusosso are generalists, also feeding on aquatic invertebrates and fish. Some dietary shift is seen between the wet and dry seasons.

Distichodus

S Willams · CC BY 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
DistichodontidaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Characiformes

Time the record covers

At least 21 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 1.8 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Oligocene — about 1 of 17 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 11 of 17 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 3 of 17 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 2 of 17 occurrencesPleistocene28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences10–9.3 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences9.3–8.4 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences8.4–7.4 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences7.4–6.5 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences6.5–5.6 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences5.6–4.6 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.6–3.7 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences3.7–2.8 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.8–1.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.9–928 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence928 ka–0 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences23.04 Mya1.8 Mya27.8 Mya0 Mya

17 occurrences of Distichodus 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

17 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

Nkondo — 1.50°N, 31.00°EKoobi Fora — 3.90°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 3.94°N, 36.25°ENyaburogo — 1.00°N, 30.50°EKakara — 1.00°N, 30.50°ELusso Beds — 0.03°N, 29.62°ENawata — 2.90°N, 36.05°ENachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°ELokone Sandstone — 2.22°N, 35.57°EMaradah — 28.58°N, 19.90°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Distichodus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Distichodus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Distichodus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

276 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 17 sites for Distichodus, 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

12 references

Each of the 17 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. 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 Distichodus

Credit
S Willams
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Distichodus 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 itDistichodontidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Muller and Troschel 1844