Leptotheridium

Leptotheridium is an extinct genus of Palaeogene artiodactyl endemic to western Europe that lived from the Middle to Late Eocene. It was erected by the Swiss palaeontologist Hans Georg Stehlin in 1910 and contains the species L. lugeoni and L. traguloides. Its phylogenetic position is unclear, with researchers determining that it belonged to either the Anoplotheriidae or the Xiphodontidae due to its dental and postcranial anatomy. The small-sized artiodactyl genus is unique from its close relatives in that it seemingly lacks the first lower premolars, weak selenodonty in its dentition, and has three-lobed canines. It is one of the earlier artiodactyl species to have appeared in the fossil record of Europe.

No picture of Leptotheridium was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none. Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is. GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Leptotheridium, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
XiphodontidaePBDB
Diet
frugivore, omnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 3.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 41.03 Mya to 37.71 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 48.07 Mya to 33.9 Mya.

Eocene — about 27 of 27 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 27 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences48–48 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences47–47 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences46–46 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences45–45 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences44–44 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences43–43 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences41–41 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 1 occurrence40–40 Mya — about 1 occurrence40–39 Mya — about 1 occurrence39–39 Mya — about 1 occurrence39–38 Mya — about 1 occurrence38–38 Mya — about 1 occurrence38–37 Mya — about 2 occurrences37–37 Mya — about 2 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 2 occurrences36–36 Mya — about 2 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 2 occurrences35–35 Mya — about 2 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 2 occurrences34–34 Mya — about 2 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences41.03 Mya37.71 Mya48.6 Mya33.4 Mya

27 occurrences of Leptotheridium 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

27 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

5 formations

Perrière — 44.37°N, 1.73°EPerrière — 44.35°N, 1.73°EPerrière — 44.38°N, 1.43°EPerriere — 44.35°N, 1.73°EPerriere — 44.37°N, 1.73°ECollegats — 42.25°N, 1.08°EMazaterón — 41.53°N, 2.12°WBellmunt — 42.17°N, 2.01°E

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The named rock units Leptotheridium has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 19 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Leptotheridium and its relatives

Eocene

Where Leptotheridium and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

300 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 16 sites for Leptotheridium, 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

9 references

Each of the 27 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. 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 content0

No picture of Leptotheridium was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none.

Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is.

GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Leptotheridium, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

No 3D scan of Leptotheridium 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 itXiphodontidae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Stehlin 1910