Michenia

Michenia is an extinct genus of camelid endemic to North America. They lived from the Early Miocene to Middle Miocene 20.43–10.3 mya, existing for approximately 10 million years. Fossils have been found from California to Texas, Alberta, Idaho and Nebraska.

Michenia

via iDigBio · CC BY-NC-SA · 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
ProtolabinaePBDB
Diet
browser, browserPBDB, for Camelidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Camelidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 6.8 million years on record.

The record covers at least 18.5 Mya to 11.63 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 29.5 Mya to 5.333 Mya.

Oligocene — about 4 of 35 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 31 of 35 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 35 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences27–27 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 2 occurrences22–22 Mya — about 2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 4 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 4 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 1 occurrence15–14 Mya — about 1 occurrence14–13 Mya — about 1 occurrence13–12 Mya — about 1 occurrence12–12 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences11–9.9 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences9.9–9.0 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences9.0–8.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.2–7.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.3–6.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.5–5.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.7–4.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18.5 Mya11.63 Mya30 Mya4.8 Mya

35 occurrences of Michenia 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

35 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

20 formations

Delaho — 29.20°N, 103.20°WDelaho — 29.09°N, 103.46°WTesuque — 36.50°N, 107.00°WTesuque — 35.50°N, 106.20°WVaqueros — 33.60°N, 117.80°WVaqueros — 33.78°N, 117.73°WCypress Hills — 49.60°N, 108.80°WCypress Hills — 49.60°N, 109.00°WBarstow — 34.80°N, 117.00°WSespe — 33.83°N, 117.79°WSespe — 33.60°N, 117.61°WMarsland — 42.40°N, 103.80°WRosebud — 43.18°N, 102.30°WHector — 34.80°N, 117.00°WRunningwater — 42.75°N, 102.02°WBox Butte — 42.20°N, 103.10°WBrowns Park — 40.60°N, 108.10°WAvawatz — 34.80°N, 117.00°WZia — 35.70°N, 107.00°WCrowder — 34.80°N, 117.00°WZia Sand — 35.70°N, 107.00°Wreferred Chamita — 36.50°N, 107.00°WWildcat Hills Beds — 41.70°N, 103.67°WCarpenter Ranch — 42.24°N, 104.08°WJohn Day — 44.85°N, 121.27°W

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The named rock units Michenia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Michenia and its relatives

Miocene

Where Michenia and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

296 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 35 sites for Michenia, 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 35 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 Michenia

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
CC BY-NC-SA
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Laser scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Michenia sp · AMNH:FM:39706-1

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 itProtolabinae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Frick and Taylor 1971