Hydrodamalis cuestae

The Cuesta sea cow is an extinct herbivorous marine mammal and is the direct ancestor of the Steller's sea cow. They reached up to 9 metres (30 ft) in length, making them among the biggest sirenians to have ever lived. They were first described in 1978 by Daryl Domning when fossils in California were unearthed. Its appearance and behavior are largely based on that of the well-documented Steller's sea cow, which, unlike the Cuesta sea cow, lived into the modern era and was well-described.

Hydrodamalis cuestae

Owen Allen · 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
Cuesta sea cowPBDB
Sits inside
HydrodamalisPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Dugongidae
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Sirenia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Sirenia

Time the record covers

At least 3.6 million years on record.

The record covers at least 7.246 Mya to 3.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Miocene — about 3 of 15 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 12 of 15 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 15 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.8–9.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.4–9.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.1–8.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.8–8.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.4–8.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.1–7.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.8–7.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.4–7.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.1–6.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.8–6.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.4–6.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.1–5.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.8–5.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.4–5.1 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences5.1–4.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.8–4.4 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences4.4–4.1 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences4.1–3.8 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences3.8–3.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.4–3.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.1–2.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.8–2.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.246 Mya3.6 Mya12.1 Mya2.1 Mya

15 occurrences of Hydrodamalis cuestae on record, most of them in the Pliocene. 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

15 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

San Mateo — 33.20°N, 117.37°WSan Mateo — 33.26°N, 117.30°WCapistrano — 33.56°N, 117.71°WCapistrano — 33.55°N, 117.71°WPismo — 35.17°N, 120.73°WSan Diego — 32.90°N, 117.10°WHorokaoshirarika — 43.84°N, 141.88°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Hydrodamalis cuestae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Hydrodamalis cuestae and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Hydrodamalis cuestae and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

116 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 15 sites for Hydrodamalis cuestae, 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

6 references

Each of the 15 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. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Hydrodamalis cuestae

Credit
Owen Allen
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Hydrodamalis cuestae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itHydrodamalis through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Domning 1978