Myliobatis californica

The bat ray is an eagle ray that has a diamond ray-like form that consists of pectoral fins that are wing-like and end in blunt points. The head is broad and raised higher than the pectoral fins. The eyes are laterally situated on the broad head. Below the front of the head projection is a horizontal depression. This means that instead of the head being flat, there is a slight indent in the top of the head in between the eyes. The tail is whip-like and is typically incomplete with at least one venomous spine at the base of the tail. The incomplete aspect means that the tail consists of cartilage instead of bone. The dorsal side is black or a dark brown while the ventral side is white with the exception of the areas close to the tips or disk.

Myliobatis californica

Martin Holst Friborg Pedersen from Copenhagen S, Denmark · CC BY 2.0 · 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
Also called
bat rayPBDB
Sits inside
MyliobatisPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Myliobatiformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Myliobatiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Myliobatiformes

Time the record covers

At least 20 million years on record.

The record covers at least 20.45 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 15 occurrencesMiocene — about 5 of 15 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 15 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 8 of 15 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 9 occurrences20.45 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

15 occurrences of Myliobatis californica on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

15 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

5 formations

Palos Verdes Sand — 33.76°N, 118.29°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.66°N, 117.90°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.88°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.29°WGatun — 9.35°N, 79.84°WJewett — 35.49°N, 118.85°WWilson Grove — 38.34°N, 122.84°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.29°W

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The named rock units Myliobatis californica has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Myliobatis californica and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Myliobatis californica and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

897 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 15 sites for Myliobatis californica, 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

9 references

Each of the 15 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 Myliobatis californica

Credit
Martin Holst Friborg Pedersen from Copenhagen S, Denmark
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Myliobatis californica 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 itMyliobatis through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gill 1865