Heterotis

Heterotis

George Albert Boulenger · Public Domain · via Wikidata/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
African arowanaPBDB
Sits inside
OsteoglossidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Osteoglossiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Osteoglossiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteoglossiformes
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Osteoglossiformes

Time the record covers

At least 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 1 of 8 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 3 of 8 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 8 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 8 occurrences28–27 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 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.3–8.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.4–7.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.4–6.5 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences6.5–5.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences5.6–4.6 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.6–3.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.7–2.8 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.8–1.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences928 ka–0 Mya — about 2 occurrences23.04 Mya11.7 ka27.8 Mya0 Mya

8 occurrences of Heterotis 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

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

5 formations

Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°ENawata — 2.90°N, 36.05°ENawata or Nachukui — 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 Heterotis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Heterotis and its relatives

Miocene

Where Heterotis and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

191 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 8 sites for Heterotis, 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

4 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 Heterotis

Credit
George Albert Boulenger
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Heterotis niloticus · UF:Fish:32897

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itOsteoglossidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Rüppell 1828