Mesodma formosa

Mesodma formosa

via iDigBio · CC0 · via iDigBio. 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
MesodmaPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Neoplagiaulacidae
Life habit
arborealPBDB, for Ptilodontoidea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Mammalia

Time the record covers

At least 6.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 72.2 Mya to 66 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 83.6 Mya to 63.4 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 36 of 47 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 11 of 47 occurrencesPaleocene84–83 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences83–83 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences81–81 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences80–79 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences79–78 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences78–78 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences76–76 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences74–74 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences73–72 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 4 occurrences71–71 Mya — about 4 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 4 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 4 occurrences69–69 Mya — about 4 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 4 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 4 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 4 occurrences66–66 Mya — about 3 occurrences66–65 Mya — about 3 occurrences65–64 Mya — about 3 occurrences64–64 Mya — about 3 occurrences64–63 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences72.2 Mya66 Mya84.1 Mya62.9 Mya

47 occurrences of Mesodma formosa on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. 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

47 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

15 formations

Hell Creek — 47.55°N, 107.13°WHell Creek — 47.60°N, 107.00°WHell Creek — 45.50°N, 103.10°WHell Creek — 47.52°N, 106.40°WHell Creek — 47.80°N, 106.10°WHell Creek — 47.53°N, 106.88°WHell Creek — 47.68°N, 106.43°WHell Creek — 45.76°N, 104.92°WLance — 41.57°N, 108.67°WLance — 43.15°N, 104.57°WLance — 44.94°N, 108.85°WLance — 43.12°N, 104.64°WLance — 43.15°N, 104.49°WLance — 43.00°N, 104.50°WFort Union — 47.60°N, 106.20°WFort Union — 47.80°N, 106.10°WFort Union — 47.60°N, 107.00°WOjo Alamo — 36.30°N, 108.20°WScollard — 51.91°N, 112.97°WScollard — 51.80°N, 113.00°WWahweap — 37.60°N, 111.35°WWahweap — 37.56°N, 112.28°WFrenchman — 49.30°N, 108.40°WRavenscrag — 49.50°N, 109.20°WEl Gallo — 30.20°N, 115.79°WKaiparowits — 37.40°N, 111.20°WFox Hills — 44.50°N, 102.30°WTullock — 47.80°N, 106.10°WFerris — 41.95°N, 106.87°WBear — 46.20°N, 109.90°WLaramie — 40.80°N, 104.47°W

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The named rock units Mesodma formosa has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Mesodma formosa and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Mesodma formosa and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

443 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 47 sites for Mesodma formosa, 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

24 references

Each of the 47 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. 12 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 content2

Picture of Mesodma formosa

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Mesodma formosa · uwbm:vp:103614

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMesodma through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Marsh 1889)