Hyracodontidae

The Hyracodontidae are an extinct family of rhinocerotoids endemic to North America, Europe, and Asia during the Eocene through early Oligocene, living from 48.6 to 26.3 million years ago (Mya), existing about 22.3 million years. Hyracodonts have been nicknamed running rhinoceroses due to their long limbs, which made them more specialized for running than any other rhinocerotoid group.

Hyracodontidae

Heinrich Harder (1858-1935) · 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
RhinocerotoideaPBDB
Diet
browserPBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 20 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 27.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 18.5 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 238 occurrencesEocene — about 177 of 238 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 60 of 238 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 1 of 238 occurrencesMiocene57–55 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 1 occurrence54–53 Mya — about 1 occurrence53–52 Mya — about 1 occurrence52–50 Mya — about 1 occurrence50–49 Mya — about 1 occurrence49–48 Mya — about 2 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 4 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 11 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 15 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 15 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 15 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 15 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 14 occurrences39–37 Mya — about 14 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 24 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 26 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 24 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 20 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 12 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 10 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 1 occurrence27–26 Mya — about 2 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences48.07 Mya27.3 Mya56.8 Mya17.8 Mya

238 occurrences of Hyracodontidae on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

238 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

54 formations

Brule — 42.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 40.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 43.30°N, 102.50°WBrule — 43.90°N, 102.40°WBrule — 43.20°N, 103.20°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 — 46.40°N, 103.30°WBrule — 41.80°N, 103.80°WBrule — 40.74°N, 103.19°WUinta — 40.07°N, 109.28°WUinta — 40.10°N, 110.20°WUinta — 40.15°N, 109.62°WUinta — 40.17°N, 109.93°WUinta — 40.07°N, 109.70°WUinta — 40.20°N, 109.30°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 — 45.47°N, 112.62°WChadron — 43.30°N, 102.50°WChadron — 42.00°N, 104.20°WErgilin Dzo — 43.75°N, 111.92°EErgilin Dzo — 43.40°N, 109.10°EErgilin Dzo — 43.73°N, 111.25°EErgilin Dzo — 44.00°N, 111.00°EErgilin Dzo — 43.37°N, 108.66°EErgilin Dzo — 43.33°N, 109.13°EWhite River — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWhite River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWhite River — 40.80°N, 103.10°WChambers Tuff — 29.90°N, 104.20°WDuchesne River — 40.20°N, 109.90°WDuchesne River — 40.10°N, 110.20°WDevil's Graveyard — 29.20°N, 103.20°WDevil's Graveyard — 29.90°N, 104.20°WWashakie — 40.60°N, 108.10°WWashakie — 41.70°N, 109.00°WWashakie — 41.41°N, 108.39°WGuanzhuang — 36.18°N, 117.67°EGuanzhuang — 35.90°N, 117.75°ELumeiyi — 24.76°N, 103.33°ESespe — 34.30°N, 119.00°WRenova — 45.00°N, 112.80°WRenova — 46.00°N, 112.00°WRenova — 45.90°N, 112.25°WDell Beds — 45.00°N, 112.80°WSantiago — 33.19°N, 117.32°WSantiago — 33.13°N, 117.31°WHedi — 34.80°N, 111.91°EHedi — 35.12°N, 111.85°EJiaozigou — 35.67°N, 103.38°EBridger — 41.08°N, 110.10°WShara Murum — 42.04°N, 111.53°EWagon Bed ("Tepee Trail") — 43.20°N, 107.10°WCypress Hills — 50.00°N, 107.90°WCypress Hills — 49.57°N, 109.88°WSharps — 43.30°N, 102.50°WChakpaktas — 48.00°N, 84.00°ELushi — 34.05°N, 111.03°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Hyracodontidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 30 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 42 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Hyracodontidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Hyracodontidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

1,320 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 200 sites for Hyracodontidae, 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

106 references

Each of the 238 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. 94 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 Hyracodontidae

Credit
Heinrich Harder (1858-1935)
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Hyracodontidae 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 itRhinocerotoidea through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cope 1879