Heterobranchus

Heterobranchus is a genus of airbreathing catfishes native to Africa, though it had a wider distribution in prehistory. Depending on the exact species involved, fish of this genus reach from 64 to 150 cm with the giant vundu being the largest completely freshwater fish in southern Africa, reaching 150 cm (59 in) SL and weighing up to 55 kg (121 lb).

Heterobranchus

Pieter Bleeker · Public Domain · 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
ClariidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Siluriformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Siluriformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Siluriformes
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Siluriformes

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 20.45 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Miocene — about 3 of 8 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 8 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 4 of 8 occurrencesPleistocene21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.6–4.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.9–4.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.2–3.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.5–2.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.8–2.1 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.1–1.4 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.4–698 ka Mya — about 0.9 occurrences698 ka–0 Mya — about 2 occurrences15.98 Mya129 ka20.9 Mya0 Mya

8 occurrences of Heterobranchus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

8 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

2 formations

  • Dam FormationSA · 20.45–15.98 Mya2
  • 1 FormationDJ · 5.333–0.0117 Mya1
Dam — 25.98°N, 49.39°E1 — 11.06°N, 42.28°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Heterobranchus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Heterobranchus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Heterobranchus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

226 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 8 sites for Heterobranchus, 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

5 references

Each of the 8 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 content2

Picture of Heterobranchus

Credit
Pieter Bleeker
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Heterobranchus longifilis · AUM:AUM:59600

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 itClariidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Hilaire 1827