Entelodontidae

Entelodontidae is an extinct family of pig-like artiodactyls that inhabited the Northern Hemisphere from the late Eocene to the early Miocene epochs, about 38 to 19 million years ago. Their large heads, low snouts, narrow gait, and proposed omnivorous diet inspires comparisons to suids and tayassuids (peccaries), and historically they have been considered closely related to these families purely on a morphological basis. However, studies which combine morphological and molecular (genetic) data on artiodactyls instead suggest that entelodonts are cetancodontamorphs, more closely related to hippos and cetaceans through their resemblance to Pakicetus, than to basal pigs like Kubanochoerus and other ungulates.

Entelodontidae

James St. John · 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
EntelodontoideaPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 21 million years on record.

The record covers at least 37.71 Mya to 16.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 48.07 Mya to 12.5 Mya.

Eocene — about 62 of 160 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 72 of 160 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 26 of 160 occurrencesMiocene49–48 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences43–41 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 2 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 3 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 12 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 19 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 19 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 18 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 15 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 6 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 6 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 5 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 6 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 6 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 6 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 6 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 4 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 4 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 4 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 4 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 5 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 2 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences37.71 Mya16.3 Mya48.8 Mya11.8 Mya

160 occurrences of Entelodontidae on record, most of them in the Oligocene. 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

160 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

40 formations

Brule — 40.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 43.90°N, 102.40°WBrule — 43.30°N, 102.50°WBrule — 42.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 46.90°N, 102.80°WBrule — 42.00°N, 104.20°WBrule — 43.85°N, 102.50°WBrule — 42.40°N, 103.80°WBrule — 43.60°N, 102.45°WBrule — 43.50°N, 101.90°WBrule — 43.20°N, 103.20°WJohn Day — 44.90°N, 120.20°WJohn Day — 44.60°N, 119.62°WJohn Day — 44.67°N, 119.63°WJohn Day — 44.67°N, 119.65°WJohn Day — 44.92°N, 120.30°WJohn Day — 44.20°N, 120.50°WJohn Day — 44.66°N, 120.24°WWhite River — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWhite River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWhite River — 40.80°N, 103.10°WWhite River — 40.97°N, 106.22°WChadron — 43.60°N, 102.45°WChadron — 42.40°N, 103.80°WChadron — 42.80°N, 103.10°WChadron — 42.80°N, 103.40°WChadron — 43.30°N, 102.50°WChadron — 42.00°N, 104.20°WCypress Hills — 49.57°N, 109.88°WCypress Hills — 49.80°N, 109.00°WCypress Hills — 49.60°N, 109.00°WErgilin Dzo — 43.73°N, 111.25°EErgilin Dzo — 43.73°N, 111.21°EErgilin Dzo — 43.37°N, 108.66°EHouldjin — 43.65°N, 111.98°EHouldjin — 42.00°N, 112.00°ECatahoula — 29.80°N, 96.90°WCatahoula — 31.66°N, 88.66°WMarsland — 42.42°N, 103.87°WMarsland — 42.40°N, 103.80°WHarrison — 42.40°N, 103.80°WKirkwood — 40.30°N, 74.30°WFleming — 31.00°N, 93.40°WFleming — 30.50°N, 95.00°WShara Murum — 42.63°N, 111.35°EIwaki — 37.00°N, 140.83°EChambers Tuff — 29.90°N, 104.20°WDuchesne River — 40.20°N, 109.90°WBaca — 33.50°N, 108.80°WArikaree — 45.80°N, 104.40°WMonroe Creek — 43.30°N, 102.50°WSharps — 43.30°N, 102.50°WTurtle Butte — 43.07°N, 99.83°WVaqueros — 33.60°N, 117.80°WBatesland — 43.13°N, 101.87°WOakville — 30.10°N, 96.10°W

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The named rock units Entelodontidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 16 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 39 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Entelodontidae and its relatives

Oligocene

Where Entelodontidae and its relatives were recorded in the Oligocene.

Found in the same rock

1,203 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 139 sites for Entelodontidae, 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

97 references

Each of the 160 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. 85 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 Entelodontidae

Credit
James St. John
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Entelodontidae 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 itEntelodontoidea through timeFormations of the OligoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lydekker 1883