Leptauchenia

Leptauchenia is an extinct goat-like genus of terrestrial herbivore belonging to the oreodont family Merycoidodontidae, and the type genus of the tribe Leptaucheniini. The genus was endemic to North America during the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene and lived for approximately 17.6 million years.

Leptauchenia

Ghedoghedo · 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
Sits inside
LeptaucheniinaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Merycoidodontidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Merycoidodontidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 7.1 million years on record.

The record covers at least 31.8 Mya to 24.7 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 18.5 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 188 occurrencesOligocene — about 159 of 188 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 29 of 188 occurrencesMiocene34–34 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 2 occurrences33–33 Mya — about 2 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 2 occurrences32–32 Mya — about 5 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 16 occurrences31–31 Mya — about 16 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 16 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 15 occurrences29–29 Mya — about 8 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 8 occurrences28–28 Mya — about 8 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 8 occurrences27–27 Mya — about 9 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 9 occurrences26–26 Mya — about 9 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 9 occurrences25–25 Mya — about 7 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 4 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 4 occurrences23–23 Mya — about 4 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 3 occurrences22–22 Mya — about 3 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 3 occurrences21–21 Mya — about 3 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 3 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 3 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 3 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences31.8 Mya24.7 Mya34.4 Mya18 Mya

188 occurrences of Leptauchenia on record, most of them in the Oligocene. 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

188 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

10 formations

Brule — 42.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 42.90°N, 105.20°WBrule — 41.80°N, 103.80°WBrule — 43.30°N, 102.50°WBrule — 42.40°N, 103.80°WBrule — 43.50°N, 101.90°WBrule — 43.20°N, 103.20°WBrule — 43.90°N, 102.40°WBrule — 41.70°N, 103.10°WSharps — 43.50°N, 101.90°WSharps — 43.30°N, 102.50°WSharps — 43.90°N, 102.40°WGering — 41.30°N, 105.10°WGering — 41.80°N, 103.80°WGering — 41.50°N, 103.80°WGering — 43.00°N, 104.50°WGering — 41.70°N, 103.10°WGering — 41.40°N, 102.40°WHarrison — 42.00°N, 104.20°WHarrison — 42.40°N, 103.80°WDeep River — 46.50°N, 111.00°WWhite River — 40.80°N, 103.10°WMonroe Creek — 43.30°N, 102.50°WSespe — 34.34°N, 119.03°WBrown Siltstone Beds — 42.40°N, 103.80°WRosebud — 43.18°N, 102.30°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Leptauchenia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 52 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Leptauchenia and its relatives

Oligocene

Where Leptauchenia and its relatives were recorded in the Oligocene.

Found in the same rock

266 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 138 sites for Leptauchenia, 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

25 references

Each of the 188 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. 13 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 content3

Picture of Leptauchenia

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Leptauchenia decora · amnh:fm:627

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itLeptaucheniinae through timeFormations of the OligoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Leidy 1856