Octodontidae

Octodontidae is a family of rodents, restricted to southwestern South America. Fourteen species of octodontid are recognised, arranged in seven genera. The best known species is the common degu, Octodon degus.

Octodontidae

Pierre Camateros · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
OctodontoideaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 16 million years on record.

The record covers at least 16.3 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 20.45 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 58 of 118 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 43 of 118 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 13 of 118 occurrencesPleistocene21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 8 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 5 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 1 occurrence15–14 Mya — about 1 occurrence14–13 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences10–9.8 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences9.8–9.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.1–8.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.4–7.7 Mya — about 4 occurrences7.7–7.0 Mya — about 8 occurrences7.0–6.3 Mya — about 9 occurrences6.3–5.6 Mya — about 9 occurrences5.6–4.9 Mya — about 9 occurrences4.9–4.2 Mya — about 15 occurrences4.2–3.5 Mya — about 12 occurrences3.5–2.8 Mya — about 9 occurrences2.8–2.1 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.1–1.4 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.4–698 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences698 ka–0 Mya — about 14 occurrences16.3 Mya11.7 ka20.9 Mya0 Mya

118 occurrences of Octodontidae on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

118 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

28 formations

Cerro Azul — 38.74°S, 62.21°WCerro Azul — 36.70°S, 64.28°WCerro Azul — 35.69°S, 64.67°WCerro Azul — 36.25°S, 65.51°WCerro Azul — 36.68°S, 64.18°WCerro Azul — 37.37°S, 65.47°WCerro Azul — 35.92°S, 64.87°WCerro Azul — 38.26°S, 66.15°WCerro Azul — 37.73°S, 63.53°WCerro Azul — 36.84°S, 65.28°WCerro Azul — 37.22°S, 63.59°WCerro Azul — 37.02°S, 64.51°WCerro Azul — 38.76°S, 62.16°WMonte Hermoso — 38.99°S, 61.67°WMonte Hermoso — 38.98°S, 61.82°WSanta Cruz — 51.05°S, 69.13°WSanta Cruz — 51.20°S, 69.12°WSanta Cruz — 50.05°S, 70.44°WSanta Cruz — 50.75°S, 69.18°WSanta Cruz — 51.35°S, 69.00°WSanta Cruz — 50.28°S, 70.22°WSanta Cruz — 50.28°S, 70.28°WSanta Cruz — 50.16°S, 69.68°WAndalhuala — 26.68°S, 66.03°WAndalhuala — 27.22°S, 66.93°WAndalhuala — 26.82°S, 66.06°WLaguna de Tagua Tagua — 34.50°S, 71.17°WSan Andres — 38.18°S, 57.65°WSan Andres — 38.12°S, 57.70°WSaldungaray — 38.77°S, 62.16°WSaldungaray — 38.42°S, 61.78°WSaldungaray — 35.68°S, 64.67°WIrene — 38.63°S, 60.61°WVorohué — 38.03°S, 57.72°WVorohué — 38.16°S, 57.63°WArroyo Chasicó — 38.63°S, 63.02°WChiquimil — 27.11°S, 66.83°WChapadmalal — 38.12°S, 57.70°WChapadmalal — 38.00°S, 57.53°WPuerto Belgrano — 38.98°S, 61.82°WCollón Cura — 42.65°S, 69.70°WMaimará — 23.62°S, 65.41°WMuyu Huasi — 19.04°S, 65.26°WNuapua — 20.75°S, 63.07°WGalera — 46.90°S, 72.30°WSalicas — 28.33°S, 66.99°WRío Quinto — 33.48°S, 65.73°WBarranca de los Lobos — 38.12°S, 57.70°WLa Huertita — 34.91°S, 68.50°WEpecuén — 37.22°S, 63.55°WBrochero — 32.69°S, 64.72°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Octodontidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 12 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Octodontidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Octodontidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

641 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 69 sites for Octodontidae, 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

52 references

Each of the 118 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. 40 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 content1

Picture of Octodontidae

Credit
Pierre Camateros
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Octodontidae 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 itOctodontoidea through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Waterhouse 1839