Hydrochoerus

The genus Hydrochoerus contains two living and three extinct species of rodents from South America, the Caribbean island of Grenada, California and Panama. Capybaras are the largest living rodents. The name of the genus is derived from Ancient Greek ὕδωρ (húdor), meaning "water", and χοῖρος (khoîros), meaning "pig".

Hydrochoerus

Phillip Capper from Wellington, New Zealand · 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
Also called
capybaraPBDB
Sits inside
HydrochoerinaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Caviidae
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 4.6 million years on record.

The record covers at least 4.7 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 9.4 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 1 of 41 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 41 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 27 of 41 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 10 of 41 occurrences9.6–9.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.2–8.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.9–8.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.6–8.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.3–7.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.9–7.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.6–7.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.9–6.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.6–6.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.3–5.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.9–5.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.6–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.3–5.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.0–4.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.6–4.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.3–4.0 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.6–3.3 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences3.3–3.0 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences3.0–2.6 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.6–2.3 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.3–2.0 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.0–1.6 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.6–1.3 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences1.3–990 ka Mya — about 1.0 occurrences990 ka–660 ka Mya — about 1.0 occurrences660 ka–330 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences330 ka–0 Mya — about 30 occurrences4.7 Mya11.7 ka9.9 Mya0 Mya

41 occurrences of Hydrochoerus 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

41 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

8 formations

Nuapua — 20.75°S, 63.07°WNuapua — 20.87°S, 63.07°WTouro Passo — 29.68°S, 56.86°WTouro Passo — 29.65°S, 56.87°WTarija — 21.53°S, 64.73°WSopas — 30.43°S, 56.45°WSopas — 32.05°S, 56.12°WAgua Blanca — 38.48°S, 61.80°WSanta Vitória — 33.74°S, 53.37°WSalto Ander Egg — 32.07°S, 60.55°WMonte Hermoso — 38.00°S, 61.00°W

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The named rock units Hydrochoerus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 26 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Hydrochoerus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Hydrochoerus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

655 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 36 sites for Hydrochoerus, 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

30 references

Each of the 41 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. 18 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 content3

Picture of Hydrochoerus

Credit
Phillip Capper from Wellington, New Zealand
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris · KWATA:JAGUARS:M5866

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
zmmu
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itHydrochoerinae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Brisson 1762