Neotoma

A pack rat or packrat, also called a woodrat or trade rat, are any species in the North and Central American rodent genus Neotoma. Pack rats have a rat-like appearance, with long tails, large ears, and large, black eyes. Pack rats are noticeably larger than deer mice, harvest mice, and grasshopper mice, and are usually somewhat larger than cotton rats.

Neotoma

R. B. Forbes · Public Domain · 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
pack ratPBDB
Sits inside
NeotominaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Rodentia
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 4.6 million years on record.

The record covers at least 4.7 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 9.4 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 7 of 341 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 45 of 341 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 258 of 341 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 32 of 341 occurrences9.6–9.2 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.2–8.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences8.9–8.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences8.6–8.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences8.3–7.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.9–7.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.6–7.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences6.9–6.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences6.6–6.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences6.3–5.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences5.9–5.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences5.6–5.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences5.3–5.0 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences5.0–4.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.6–4.3 Mya — about 7 occurrences4.3–4.0 Mya — about 7 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 7 occurrences3.6–3.3 Mya — about 7 occurrences3.3–3.0 Mya — about 7 occurrences3.0–2.6 Mya — about 7 occurrences2.6–2.3 Mya — about 10 occurrences2.3–2.0 Mya — about 10 occurrences2.0–1.6 Mya — about 10 occurrences1.6–1.3 Mya — about 14 occurrences1.3–990 ka Mya — about 28 occurrences990 ka–660 ka Mya — about 28 occurrences660 ka–330 ka Mya — about 29 occurrences330 ka–0 Mya — about 162 occurrences4.7 Mya11.7 ka9.9 Mya0 Mya

341 occurrences of Neotoma 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

341 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

37 formations

"unnamed sandstone" — 33.90°N, 117.00°WSan Timoteo — 33.90°N, 117.00°WTemecula Arkose — 33.90°N, 117.00°WRexroad — 37.10°N, 100.90°WRexroad — 37.20°N, 100.30°WSt. David — 32.00°N, 110.20°WSt. David — 31.97°N, 110.30°WGila Conglomerate — 32.90°N, 109.10°WGila Conglomerate — 32.70°N, 109.10°WGila Conglomerate — 32.69°N, 109.45°WGlenns Ferry — 42.80°N, 114.90°WVerde — 34.50°N, 112.50°WVerde — 34.77°N, 111.85°WSan Diego — 32.90°N, 117.10°WSan Diego — 32.62°N, 117.00°WKingsdown — 37.20°N, 100.30°WPauba — 33.90°N, 117.00°WRingold — 47.00°N, 118.50°WRingold — 46.30°N, 119.10°WRancho Viejo Beds — 21.20°N, 100.70°WBacons Castle — 38.16°N, 76.83°WCrowder — 34.80°N, 117.00°WTulare — 35.30°N, 118.50°WCrooked Creek — 37.20°N, 100.30°WPanaca — 37.80°N, 114.30°WHorse Spring — 35.70°N, 115.20°WPalomas — 33.10°N, 107.30°WWhite Narrows — 35.70°N, 115.20°WBlanco — 33.70°N, 101.10°WHarold — 34.00°N, 118.20°WSeymour — 33.80°N, 99.70°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Neotoma has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 13 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 236 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Neotoma and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Neotoma and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,726 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 293 sites for Neotoma, and this reads 240 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

147 references

Each of the 341 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. 135 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 content3

Picture of Neotoma

Credit
R. B. Forbes
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Neotoma sp. · UWBM:Mammalogy:UWBM:Mamm:37681

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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

Everything alive alongside itNeotomina through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Say and Ord 1825