Lynx

A lynx is any of the four extant species within the medium-sized wild cat genus Lynx. The name originated in Middle English via Latin from the Greek word lynx, derived from the Indo-European root *leuk-, in reference to the luminescence of its reflective eyes.

Lynx

Jan Czeczotka (c)"Programa de Conservación Ex-situ del Lince Ibérico www.lynxexsitu.es" Denali National Park and Pres… · CC BY 2.5 · 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
lynxPBDB
Sits inside
FelinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Felidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 4.6 million years on record.

The record covers at least 4.7 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 9.4 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 3 of 199 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 37 of 199 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 146 of 199 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 13 of 199 occurrences9.6–9.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.2–8.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.9–8.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.6–8.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.3–7.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.9–7.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.6–7.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.9–6.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.6–6.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.3–5.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.9–5.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.6–5.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences5.3–5.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.0–4.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.6–4.3 Mya — about 4 occurrences4.3–4.0 Mya — about 5 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 5 occurrences3.6–3.3 Mya — about 6 occurrences3.3–3.0 Mya — about 6 occurrences3.0–2.6 Mya — about 6 occurrences2.6–2.3 Mya — about 9 occurrences2.3–2.0 Mya — about 12 occurrences2.0–1.6 Mya — about 10 occurrences1.6–1.3 Mya — about 8 occurrences1.3–990 ka Mya — about 12 occurrences990 ka–660 ka Mya — about 14 occurrences660 ka–330 ka Mya — about 19 occurrences330 ka–0 Mya — about 76 occurrences4.7 Mya11.7 ka9.9 Mya0 Mya

199 occurrences of Lynx 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

199 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

25 formations

Palm Spring — 32.90°N, 117.10°WVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°EBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WBermont — 26.90°N, 82.00°WAmerican Falls Lake Bed E — 42.80°N, 112.90°W'Ubeidiya — 32.68°N, 35.57°EUnterer Travertin — 50.95°N, 11.38°EUnterer Travertin — 50.97°N, 11.35°EOgallala — 36.70°N, 101.40°WMcKay — 45.50°N, 118.80°WTemecula Arkose — 33.90°N, 117.00°WTamiami — 27.37°N, 82.45°WCrooked Creek — 37.20°N, 100.30°WRingold — 47.00°N, 118.50°WTacubaya — 21.80°N, 102.30°WLa Habra — 33.60°N, 117.80°WWicomico — 29.60°N, 82.42°WMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°EKuruksai suite — 38.31°N, 69.67°EPlatanochori — 40.57°N, 23.47°EDursunlu — 38.28°N, 31.91°EKhapry — 47.24°N, 39.71°EKarboliya — 45.99°N, 28.30°EGuadix — 37.42°N, 3.17°WShuler — 32.71°N, 96.71°WTurlock Lake — 37.06°N, 120.20°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Lynx has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. One further formation holds fewer occurrences and is not listed. 163 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Lynx and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Lynx and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

2,455 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 196 sites for Lynx, 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

129 references

Each of the 199 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. 117 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 Lynx

Credit
Jan Czeczotka (c)"Programa de Conservación Ex-situ del Lince Ibérico www.lynxexsitu.es" Denali National Park and Pres…
Licence
CC BY 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Lynx rufus · PSAL:ARCH

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 itFelinae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Kerr 1792)