Nyctitheriidae

Nyctitheriidae is a family of extinct eulipotyphlan insectivores known from the Paleocene and Eocene epochs of North America and Asia and persisting into the Oligocene of Europe. Several genera, including Nyctitherium, Paradoxonycteris, and Wyonycteris, have initially been described as bats, although the family is more frequently placed in the order Eulipotyphla.

Nyctitheriidae

Missiaen, P. and Smith, T. 2005. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
Sits inside
SoricoideaPBDB
Diet
insectivorePBDB
Life habit
scansorialPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 44 million years on record.

The record covers at least 72.2 Mya to 27.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 83.6 Mya to 23.04 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 2 of 391 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 91 of 391 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 249 of 391 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 50 of 391 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 0 of 391 occurrences85–83 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences83–81 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences81–79 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences79–76 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences76–74 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences74–72 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences72–70 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences70–68 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences68–66 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences66–64 Mya — about 1 occurrence64–62 Mya — about 5 occurrences62–60 Mya — about 20 occurrences60–58 Mya — about 35 occurrences58–55 Mya — about 38 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 31 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 31 occurrences51–49 Mya — about 35 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 30 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 19 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 13 occurrences43–41 Mya — about 14 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 18 occurrences39–37 Mya — about 21 occurrences37–34 Mya — about 23 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 17 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 15 occurrences30–28 Mya — about 15 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 6 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences72.2 Mya27.3 Mya85 Mya22 Mya

391 occurrences of Nyctitheriidae on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

391 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

66 formations

Bridger — 41.70°N, 109.00°WBridger — 41.20°N, 110.50°WBridger — 42.70°N, 110.10°WBridger — 42.42°N, 109.35°WBridger — 41.80°N, 110.70°WBridger — 41.77°N, 110.33°WBridger — 41.08°N, 110.10°WFort Union — 41.30°N, 107.74°WFort Union — 45.80°N, 109.80°WFort Union — 47.80°N, 106.10°WFort Union — 41.70°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 46.90°N, 101.50°WFort Union — 45.80°N, 110.50°WFort Union — 44.72°N, 108.38°WFort Union — 44.89°N, 108.91°WFort Union — 45.40°N, 105.60°WFort Union — 41.92°N, 108.56°WFort Union — 45.20°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 44.30°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 39.27°N, 108.18°WFort Union — 44.66°N, 108.30°WFort Union — 41.83°N, 108.60°WWillwood — 44.78°N, 108.97°WWillwood — 44.30°N, 109.00°WWillwood — 43.95°N, 107.57°WWillwood — 44.00°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 108.54°WWillwood — 44.76°N, 108.88°WWillwood — 44.16°N, 107.87°WPaskapoo — 52.40°N, 113.80°WPaskapoo — 52.20°N, 113.70°WPaskapoo — 51.18°N, 114.43°WPaskapoo — 52.23°N, 113.63°WPaskapoo — 51.50°N, 112.30°WPaskapoo — 52.35°N, 113.77°WPaskapoo — 54.80°N, 115.46°WPaskapoo — 51.00°N, 114.10°WPaskapoo — 53.23°N, 114.70°WWasatch — 41.80°N, 110.70°WWasatch — 41.70°N, 109.00°WWasatch — 40.60°N, 108.10°WWasatch — 42.70°N, 110.10°WFriars — 32.90°N, 117.10°WNaran Bulak — 44.62°N, 106.18°ENaran Bulak — 43.47°N, 100.37°EBorgloon — 50.82°N, 4.82°EWind River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WGreen River — 41.70°N, 109.00°WGreen River — 40.20°N, 109.90°WAycross — 43.70°N, 108.70°WWagon Bed ("Tepee Trail") — 43.20°N, 107.10°WPerrière — 44.37°N, 1.73°EPerrière — 44.38°N, 1.43°ERavenscrag — 49.70°N, 110.10°WRavenscrag — 49.06°N, 102.75°WHeadon Hill — 50.72°N, 1.59°WHeadon Hill — 50.67°N, 1.54°WHeadon Hill — 50.72°N, 1.22°WBembridge Limestone — 50.67°N, 1.55°WTienen — 50.82°N, 5.10°ELignites de Soissonais — 49.05°N, 4.00°ELignites de Soissonais — 49.08°N, 4.03°ELignites de Soissonais — 43.62°N, 5.75°EBlackheath Beds — 51.43°N, 0.15°ESan Jose — 35.70°N, 107.00°WSan Jose — 36.50°N, 107.00°W"Wasatch" — 44.00°N, 106.60°WFowkes — 41.31°N, 111.02°WCreechbarrow Limestone — 50.65°N, 2.12°WHeadon Beds — 50.72°N, 1.59°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Nyctitheriidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 42 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 88 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Nyctitheriidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Nyctitheriidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

2,799 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 229 sites for Nyctitheriidae, 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

150 references

Each of the 391 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. 138 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 Nyctitheriidae

Credit
Missiaen, P. and Smith, T. 2005.
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Nyctitheriidae indet. · CM:VertPaleo:79151

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 itSoricoidea through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Simpson 1928