Lepidosirenidae

The South American lungfish, also known as the American mud-fish and scaly salamanderfish, is the single species of lungfish found in swamps and slow-moving waters of the Amazon, Paraguay, and lower Paraná River basins in South America. Notable as an obligate air-breather, it is the sole member of its family Lepidosirenidae, although some authors also place Protopterus in the family. In Brazil, it is known by the indigenous language Tupi name piramboia, which means "snake-fish", and synonyms pirarucu-bóia, traíra-bóia, and caramuru.

Lepidosirenidae

François-Louis Laporte, comte de Castelnau · 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
LepidosirenoideiPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Ceratodontiformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Ceratodontiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Ceratodontiformes
Environment
freshwaterPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 93 million years on record.

The record covers at least 93.9 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 100.5 Mya to 0 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 0 of 103 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 10 of 103 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 2 of 103 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 10 of 103 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 7 of 103 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 39 of 103 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 14 of 103 occurrencesPleistocene — about 19 of 103 occurrences103–99 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences99–96 Mya — about 1 occurrence96–92 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences92–89 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences89–85 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences82–79 Mya — about 1 occurrence79–75 Mya — about 1 occurrence75–72 Mya — about 1 occurrence72–68 Mya — about 1 occurrence68–65 Mya — about 1 occurrence65–62 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences62–58 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences58–55 Mya — about 1 occurrence55–51 Mya — about 2 occurrences51–48 Mya — about 2 occurrences48–44 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences44–41 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences41–38 Mya — about 1 occurrence38–34 Mya — about 3 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 3 occurrences31–27 Mya — about 3 occurrences27–24 Mya — about 1 occurrence24–21 Mya — about 1 occurrence21–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–14 Mya — about 5 occurrences14–10 Mya — about 23 occurrences10–6.8 Mya — about 5 occurrences6.8–3.4 Mya — about 12 occurrences3.4–0 Mya — about 25 occurrences93.9 Mya11.7 ka103 Mya0 Mya

103 occurrences of Lepidosirenidae 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

103 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

36 formations

Koobi Fora — 4.26°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 4.24°N, 36.26°EKoobi Fora — 4.29°N, 36.23°EKoobi Fora — 3.77°N, 36.44°EKoobi Fora — 3.78°N, 36.33°EKoobi Fora — 3.87°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 4.18°N, 36.42°EKoobi Fora — 3.59°N, 36.24°EVillavieja — 3.24°N, 75.17°WVillavieja — 3.26°N, 75.19°WVillavieja — 3.23°N, 75.14°WLa Victoria — 3.30°N, 75.14°WLa Victoria — 3.24°N, 75.13°WLa Victoria — 3.31°N, 75.17°WPozo — 6.57°S, 76.27°WWembere-Manonga — 3.87°S, 33.72°EWembere-Manonga — 3.92°S, 33.88°EWembere-Manonga — 4.03°S, 33.77°EWadi Milk — 16.70°N, 31.14°ENachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EWarwire — 1.50°N, 31.00°ENkondo — 1.50°N, 31.00°EKakara — 1.00°N, 30.50°EMuñani — 15.73°S, 70.17°WQuseir — 25.55°N, 29.31°ECastilletes — 11.95°N, 71.27°WPebas — 7.36°S, 74.96°WPebas — 2.81°S, 73.55°WNawata — 2.90°N, 36.05°EChiwondo — 10.17°S, 34.00°ENkondo/Warwire — 1.50°N, 31.00°EMuluk — 30.42°N, 30.25°EShungura — 5.06°N, 36.03°EMaboko — 0.15°N, 34.62°ENawata or Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EOluka — 1.00°N, 30.50°EMizdah — 26.58°N, 12.77°EInbeceten — 15.05°N, 6.03°E

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The named rock units Lepidosirenidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 12 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 12 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Lepidosirenidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Lepidosirenidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

842 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 98 sites for Lepidosirenidae, 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

51 references

Each of the 103 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. 39 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 Lepidosirenidae

Credit
François-Louis Laporte, comte de Castelnau
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Lepidosirenidae 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 itLepidosirenoidei through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Stirton 1953