Lagostomus maximus

The plains viscacha or plains vizcacha is a species of viscacha, a rodent in the family Chinchillidae. It is the only living species within the genus Lagostomus. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay. The plains viscacha is the largest species in its family. They construct elaborate burrows that house successive colonies for decades.

Lagostomus maximus

Brian Gratwicke · 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
plains viscachaPBDB
Sits inside
LagostomusPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Chinchillidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Chinchillidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At most 2.6 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 2.58 Mya and 0 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Pliocene — about 0 of 17 occurrencesPleistocene — about 13 of 17 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 4 of 17 occurrences2.7–2.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.6–2.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.5–2.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.4–2.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.3–2.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.2–2.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.1–2.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.0–1.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.8–1.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.7–1.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.6–1.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.5–1.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.4–1.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.3–1.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.2–1.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.1–1.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.0–924 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences924 ka–821 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences821 ka–719 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences719 ka–616 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences616 ka–513 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences513 ka–411 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences411 ka–308 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences308 ka–205 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences205 ka–103 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences103 ka–0 Mya — about 9 occurrences3.08 Mya0 Mya

17 occurrences of Lagostomus maximus 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

17 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

6 formations

Nuapua — 20.75°S, 63.07°WNuapua — 20.87°S, 63.07°WLujan — 38.57°S, 58.70°WLujan — 34.60°S, 59.15°WAgua Blanca — 38.48°S, 61.80°WLuján — 37.00°S, 60.38°WSalto Ander Egg — 32.08°S, 60.53°WSanta Vitória — 33.74°S, 53.37°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Lagostomus maximus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 9 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Lagostomus maximus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Lagostomus maximus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

192 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 16 sites for Lagostomus maximus, 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

16 references

Each of the 17 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. 4 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 maximus

Credit
Brian Gratwicke
Licence
CC BY 2.0
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 itLagostomus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Desmarest 1817)