Echimyidae

Echimyidae is the family of Neotropical spiny rats and their fossil relatives. This is the most species-rich family of hystricognath rodents. It is probably also the most ecologically diverse, with members ranging from fully arboreal to terrestrial to fossorial to semiaquatic habits. They presently exist mainly in South America; three members of the family also range into Central America, and the hutias are found in the West Indies in the Caribbean. Species of the extinct subfamily Heteropsomyinae formerly lived on Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico in the Antilles.

Echimyidae

File:Bisam 122.jpg : Les Meloures at Luxembourgish Wikipedia File:Mesomys hispidus female.jpg : This picture is a wor… · 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
spiny ratPBDB
Sits inside
OctodontoideaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Life habit
scansorialPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 37 million years on record.

The record covers at least 37.71 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 48.07 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 2 of 375 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 7 of 375 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 70 of 375 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 91 of 375 occurrencesPleistocene — about 124 of 375 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 1 occurrence33–31 Mya — about 1 occurrence31–29 Mya — about 1 occurrence29–28 Mya — about 1 occurrence28–26 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 3 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 5 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 7 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 5 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 5 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 6 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.8–8.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.2–6.5 Mya — about 19 occurrences6.5–4.9 Mya — about 23 occurrences4.9–3.3 Mya — about 53 occurrences3.3–1.6 Mya — about 54 occurrences1.6–0 Mya — about 183 occurrences37.71 Mya11.7 ka49 Mya0 Mya

375 occurrences of Echimyidae 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

375 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

46 formations

Chapadmalal — 38.27°S, 57.84°WChapadmalal — 38.24°S, 57.78°WChapadmalal — 38.19°S, 57.66°WChapadmalal — 38.18°S, 57.65°WChapadmalal — 38.12°S, 57.60°WCerro Azul — 35.69°S, 64.67°WCerro Azul — 36.25°S, 65.51°WCerro Azul — 37.28°S, 64.15°WCerro Azul — 36.72°S, 64.30°WCerro Azul — 36.68°S, 64.18°WCerro Azul — 37.37°S, 65.47°WCerro Azul — 37.73°S, 63.53°WCerro Azul — 35.92°S, 64.87°WCerro Azul — 36.84°S, 65.28°WCerro Azul — 36.22°S, 65.06°WCerro Azul — 37.02°S, 64.51°WVorohué — 38.03°S, 57.72°WVorohué — 38.27°S, 57.84°WVorohué — 38.24°S, 57.78°WVorohué — 38.22°S, 57.73°WVorohué — 38.17°S, 57.64°WMonte Hermoso — 38.99°S, 61.67°WMonte Hermoso — 38.98°S, 61.30°WBotucatu — 29.57°S, 51.63°WBotucatu — 29.77°S, 50.55°WBotucatu — 29.56°S, 51.40°WItuzaingo — 31.48°S, 60.23°WIrene — 38.60°S, 60.61°WIrene — 38.54°S, 60.61°WPinturas — 46.99°S, 70.59°WPinturas — 47.17°S, 70.21°WPinturas — 47.03°S, 70.67°WCura-Mallín — 37.48°S, 71.23°WCura-Mallín — 37.65°S, 71.23°WSan Andres — 38.18°S, 57.65°WSan Andres — 38.12°S, 57.70°WBarranca de los Lobos — 38.24°S, 57.78°WBarranca de los Lobos — 38.19°S, 57.66°WBarranca de los Lobos — 38.17°S, 57.64°WTarija — 21.53°S, 64.73°WTarija — 21.50°S, 64.75°WNuapua — 20.75°S, 63.07°WNuapua — 20.87°S, 63.07°WAlvear — 32.67°S, 60.63°WVillavieja — 3.32°N, 75.13°WVillavieja — 3.22°N, 75.14°WYahuarango — 9.49°S, 72.76°WSarmiento — 45.67°S, 68.71°WSolimoes — 10.93°S, 69.92°WSolimoes — 10.12°S, 66.88°WSolimoes — 7.66°S, 72.54°WCollón Cura — 40.39°S, 70.21°WEpecuén — 37.22°S, 63.55°WChambira — 7.32°S, 74.93°WChambira — 7.35°S, 74.95°WHetaoyuan — 33.00°N, 111.42°EBrochero — 31.78°S, 64.99°WMiramar — 38.17°S, 57.65°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Echimyidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 22 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 178 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Echimyidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Echimyidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,650 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 190 sites for Echimyidae, 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

113 references

Each of the 375 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. 101 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 Echimyidae

Credit
File:Bisam 122.jpg : Les Meloures at Luxembourgish Wikipedia File:Mesomys hispidus female.jpg : This picture is a wor…
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Echimyidae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itOctodontoidea through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

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