Lagostomus

Lagostomus is a South American genus of rodents in the family Chinchillidae. It contains a single living species, the plains viscacha, and it is the only Holocene genus in the subfamily Lagostominae. It probably only has one extant species; the taxa Lagostomus crassus is probably not valid.

Lagostomus

Eric Bousquet · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
viscachaPBDB
Sits inside
LagostominaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Chinchillidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Chinchillidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 7.9 million years on record.

The record covers at least 8 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 13.82 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 44 of 106 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 32 of 106 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 25 of 106 occurrencesPleistocene14–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences10–9.5 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences9.5–9.1 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences9.1–8.6 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences8.6–8.1 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences8.1–7.6 Mya — about 5 occurrences7.6–7.2 Mya — about 7 occurrences7.2–6.7 Mya — about 7 occurrences6.7–6.2 Mya — about 7 occurrences6.2–5.7 Mya — about 7 occurrences5.7–5.3 Mya — about 8 occurrences5.3–4.8 Mya — about 7 occurrences4.8–4.3 Mya — about 6 occurrences4.3–3.8 Mya — about 6 occurrences3.8–3.3 Mya — about 5 occurrences3.3–2.9 Mya — about 5 occurrences2.9–2.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.4–1.9 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.9–1.4 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.4–955 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences955 ka–477 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences477 ka–0 Mya — about 26 occurrences8 Mya11.7 ka14.3 Mya0 Mya

106 occurrences of Lagostomus 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

106 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

32 formations

Cerro Azul — 38.74°S, 62.21°WCerro Azul — 38.70°S, 62.26°WCerro Azul — 35.69°S, 64.67°WCerro Azul — 36.25°S, 65.51°WCerro Azul — 37.37°S, 65.47°WCerro Azul — 35.92°S, 64.87°WCerro Azul — 37.14°S, 65.77°WCerro Azul — 37.73°S, 63.53°WCerro Azul — 36.68°S, 64.18°WCerro Azul — 36.70°S, 64.28°WCerro Azul — 36.22°S, 65.06°WCerro Azul — 37.22°S, 63.59°WCerro Azul — 37.02°S, 64.51°WCerro Azul — 36.84°S, 65.28°WCerro Azul — 37.28°S, 64.15°WIrene — 38.63°S, 60.61°WIrene — 38.83°S, 60.54°WIrene — 38.74°S, 60.57°WIrene — 38.53°S, 60.60°WMonte Hermoso — 38.99°S, 61.67°WChiquimil — 26.80°S, 66.07°WChiquimil — 27.22°S, 66.93°WChiquimil — 27.11°S, 66.83°WItuzaingo — 31.48°S, 60.23°WSalicas — 28.33°S, 66.95°WSalicas — 28.33°S, 66.99°WNuapua — 20.75°S, 63.07°WNuapua — 20.87°S, 63.07°WLujan — 38.57°S, 58.70°WLujan — 34.60°S, 59.15°WEpecuén — 37.22°S, 63.55°WLuján — 37.00°S, 60.38°WLuján — 35.83°S, 58.02°WPuerto Madryn — 42.78°S, 63.68°WTezanos Pinto — 31.41°S, 62.14°WTezanos Pinto — 32.07°S, 60.65°WChapadmalal — 38.12°S, 57.70°WChapadmalal — 38.11°S, 57.57°WPampean — 38.20°S, 59.12°WSaldungaray-La Toma — 38.75°S, 61.73°WMuyu Huasi — 19.04°S, 65.26°WVorohué — 38.03°S, 57.72°WAgua Blanca — 38.48°S, 61.80°WRío Quinto — 33.48°S, 65.73°WLibertad — 34.38°S, 56.18°WLa Invernada — 33.24°S, 62.42°WArroyo Chasicó — 38.62°S, 62.98°WBarranca de los Lobos — 38.12°S, 57.70°WPuerto Belgrano — 38.98°S, 61.82°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Lagostomus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 8 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 20 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Lagostomus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Lagostomus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

756 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 74 sites for Lagostomus, 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

57 references

Each of the 106 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. 45 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 content2

Picture of Lagostomus

Credit
Eric Bousquet
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
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
Lagostomus maximus · AMNH:Mammals:M-41523

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 itLagostominae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

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