Metaxytherium subapenninum

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 subapenninum

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
MetaxytheriumPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Dugongidae
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Sirenia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Sirenia

Time the record covers

At least 243 thousand years on record.

The record covers at least 5.333 Mya to 5.09 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 20 occurrencesMiocene — about 1 of 20 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 19 of 20 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 20 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–9.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.9–9.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.2–8.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.5–7.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.1–6.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.4–5.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.7–4.9 Mya — about 4 occurrences4.9–4.2 Mya — about 8 occurrences4.2–3.5 Mya — about 7 occurrences3.5–2.8 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.8–2.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.333 Mya – 5.09 Mya23.5 Mya2.1 Mya

20 occurrences of Metaxytherium subapenninum on record, most of them in the Pliocene. 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

20 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

3 formations

Sabbie di Asti — 45.07°N, 8.10°ESabbie di Asti — 44.77°N, 8.36°ESabbie di Asti — 44.70°N, 7.85°EArgille di Ortovero — 44.41°N, 8.93°EMonte Adone — 44.38°N, 11.37°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Metaxytherium subapenninum has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 15 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Metaxytherium subapenninum and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Metaxytherium subapenninum and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

99 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 20 sites for Metaxytherium subapenninum, 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

11 references

Each of the 20 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 content1

Picture of Metaxytherium subapenninum

Credit
Carl Buell
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Metaxytherium subapenninum was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itMetaxytherium through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Bruno 1839)