Elephantulus

Elephantulus is a genus of sengi, or elephant shrew, in the family Macroscelididae.

Elephantulus

Nils.Woxholt from South Africa · CC BY 2.0 · 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
ElephantuliniPBDB
Diet
insectivorePBDB, for Macroscelididae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Macroscelididae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 3.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 32 occurrencesMiocene — about 1 of 32 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 16 of 32 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 12 of 32 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 0.0 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 5 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 5 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 5 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 5 occurrences3.6 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

32 occurrences of Elephantulus 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

32 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

7 formations

Makapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°EVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°EOlduvai — 2.99°S, 35.34°EVarswater & Bredasdorp — 32.98°S, 18.15°EKanapoi — 2.32°N, 36.07°E

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The named rock units Elephantulus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 8 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Elephantulus and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Elephantulus and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

465 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 24 sites for Elephantulus, 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

22 references

Each of the 32 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. 10 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 content2

Picture of Elephantulus

Credit
Nils.Woxholt from South Africa
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Elephantulus brachyrhynchus · nhmuk:1963.1004

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 itElephantulini through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Thomas and Schwann 1906