Metaxytherium

Metaxytherium is an extinct genus of dugong that lived from the Oligocene until the end of the Pliocene. Fossil remains have been found in Africa, Europe, North America and South America. Generally marine seagrass specialists, they inhabited the warm and shallow waters of the Paratethys, Mediterranean, Caribbean Sea and Pacific coastline. American species of Metaxytherium are considered to be ancestral to the North Pacific family Hydrodamalinae, which includes the giant Steller's sea cow.

Metaxytherium

Carl Buell · CC0 · 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
HalitheriinaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Dugongidae
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Sirenia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Sirenia

Time the record covers

At least 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 27.3 Mya to 3.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 243 occurrencesOligocene — about 6 of 243 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 205 of 243 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 32 of 243 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 243 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 1 occurrence26–25 Mya — about 1 occurrence25–24 Mya — about 1 occurrence24–23 Mya — about 2 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 12 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 12 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 12 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 12 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 20 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 20 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 16 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 11 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 16 occurrences11–9.6 Mya — about 16 occurrences9.6–8.5 Mya — about 16 occurrences8.5–7.4 Mya — about 15 occurrences7.4–6.3 Mya — about 12 occurrences6.3–5.2 Mya — about 12 occurrences5.2–4.1 Mya — about 18 occurrences4.1–3.0 Mya — about 10 occurrences3.0–2.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences27.3 Mya3.6 Mya34.5 Mya2 Mya

243 occurrences of Metaxytherium on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

243 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

49 formations

Burgeschleinitz — 48.63°N, 15.78°EBurgeschleinitz — 48.66°N, 15.79°EBurgeschleinitz — 48.60°N, 15.86°EBurgeschleinitz — 48.74°N, 15.90°EBurgeschleinitz — 48.76°N, 15.95°ECalvert — 38.60°N, 76.51°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WCalvert — 38.40°N, 76.50°WCalvert — 37.66°N, 77.11°WCalvert — 38.74°N, 76.56°WCalvert — 38.53°N, 76.52°WCalvert — 38.16°N, 76.83°WSahabi — 30.14°N, 20.75°ESahabi — 30.00°N, 20.00°EPeace River — 27.91°N, 81.99°WPeace River — 27.70°N, 81.85°WPeace River — 28.67°N, 80.91°WPeace River — 27.90°N, 81.80°WPeace River — 27.78°N, 81.94°WPeace River — 29.68°N, 82.37°WLeitha — 47.81°N, 16.63°ELeitha — 48.01°N, 16.78°ELeitha — 47.83°N, 16.45°ELeitha — 47.75°N, 16.68°ELeitha — 47.97°N, 16.61°ETorreya — 30.50°N, 84.50°WTorreya — 30.60°N, 84.58°WPirabas — 0.60°S, 47.31°WPirabas — 0.48°S, 48.17°WPirabas — 1.05°S, 47.16°WAlachua — 29.55°N, 82.52°WAlachua — 29.65°N, 82.60°WSabbie di Asti — 45.07°N, 8.10°ESabbie di Asti — 44.77°N, 8.36°ESabbie di Asti — 44.70°N, 7.85°EStudienka — 48.20°N, 17.00°EAmpelouzos — 35.14°N, 24.99°EAmpelouzos — 35.06°N, 24.94°ERoka — 35.61°N, 23.84°ERoka — 35.50°N, 23.67°EAchladia — 35.20°N, 26.16°EAchladia — 35.20°N, 26.09°EMores — 40.74°N, 8.51°ESables à Gryphaea virleti — 43.61°N, 3.88°ELeitha — 48.74°N, 16.71°EWeissenegg — 46.74°N, 15.56°EParachucla — 30.33°N, 82.73°WChandler Bridge — 33.01°N, 80.06°WChandler Bridge — 32.89°N, 80.00°WModolo — 40.28°N, 8.52°EMontera — 5.12°S, 80.91°WJaffna — 8.28°N, 79.82°EMonterey — 33.60°N, 117.70°WRosarito Beach — 32.12°N, 116.80°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Metaxytherium has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 25 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 123 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Metaxytherium and its relatives

Miocene

Where Metaxytherium and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,372 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 225 sites for Metaxytherium, 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

103 references

Each of the 243 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. 91 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 Metaxytherium

Credit
Carl Buell
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Metaxytherium 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 itHalitheriinae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. de Christol 1840