Macrocranion

Macrocranion is a genus of extinct mammal from the Eocene epoch of Europe and North America. Exceptional fossils have been found in the Messel Pit of Germany. Macrocranion species are often described as forest-floor predators, about the size of small squirrels but with longer limbs. The genus is represented at the Messel Pit site by two species, M. tupaidon and M. tenerum.

Macrocranion

H. Zell · 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
AmphilemuridaePBDB
Diet
insectivorePBDB, for Macroscelidea
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Macroscelidea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 51.1 Mya to 39.7 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 59.24 Mya to 37 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 53 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 53 of 53 occurrencesEocene60–59 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences59–58 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences58–57 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences57–57 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences57–56 Mya — about 1 occurrence56–55 Mya — about 7 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 7 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 7 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 7 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 7 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 7 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 3 occurrences50–50 Mya — about 2 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 2 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 2 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences47–47 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences45–44 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 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences40–40 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences37–37 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences51.1 Mya39.7 Mya59.7 Mya36.5 Mya

53 occurrences of Macrocranion on record, most of them in the Eocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

53 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

17 formations

Willwood — 43.95°N, 107.57°WWillwood — 44.00°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.30°N, 109.00°WWillwood — 44.76°N, 108.88°WWillwood — 44.16°N, 107.87°WWasatch — 40.60°N, 108.10°WWind River — 44.00°N, 106.60°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWind River — 43.20°N, 108.20°WSan Jose — 35.70°N, 107.00°WSan Jose — 36.50°N, 107.00°WTienen — 50.33°N, 4.28°ETienen — 50.82°N, 5.10°EAycross — 43.70°N, 108.70°WWagon Bed ("Tepee Trail") — 43.20°N, 107.10°WLignites de Soissonais — 49.08°N, 4.03°ELignites de Soissonais — 49.05°N, 4.00°EDeBeque — 40.00°N, 107.90°W"Wasatch" — 44.00°N, 106.60°WArgiles d'lignite du Soissonnais — 49.33°N, 2.66°ETielt — 51.01°N, 3.23°EMarnes de Dormans — 49.08°N, 3.47°EVaugirard — 48.81°N, 2.24°EBlackheath Beds — 51.43°N, 0.15°EMortemer — 49.89°N, 0.83°ESuffolk Pebble Beds — 52.09°N, 1.32°E

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The named rock units Macrocranion has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Macrocranion and its relatives

Eocene

Where Macrocranion and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

730 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 52 sites for Macrocranion, 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

28 references

Each of the 53 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. 16 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 Macrocranion

Credit
H. Zell
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Macrocranion was found in Smithsonian Open Access and Sketchfab.

MorphoSource 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 itAmphilemuridae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Weitzel 1949