Orycterocetus crocodilinus

Orycterocetus crocodilinus

via iDigBio · 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
OrycterocetusPBDB
Diet
piscivore, carnivorePBDB, for Physeteridae
Life habit
aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Cetacea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marine,freshwaterPBDB, for Odontoceti

Time the record covers

At least 2.1 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 13.82 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 5.333 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 20 occurrencesMiocene — about 20 of 20 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 20 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 2 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 3 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 2 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences10–9.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.8–9.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.2–8.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.6–8.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.0–7.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.3–6.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.7–6.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.1–5.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.5–4.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15.98 Mya – 13.82 Mya23.5 Mya4.8 Mya

20 occurrences of Orycterocetus crocodilinus 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

20 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

3 formations

Calvert — 38.54°N, 76.73°WCalvert — 38.40°N, 76.50°WCalvert — 38.67°N, 76.53°WCalvert — 38.53°N, 76.52°WCalvert — 38.60°N, 76.51°WCalvert — 37.22°N, 76.96°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WCalvert — 38.16°N, 76.83°WChoptank — 38.39°N, 76.57°WBerchem — 51.15°N, 4.63°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Orycterocetus crocodilinus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 6 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Orycterocetus crocodilinus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Orycterocetus crocodilinus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

420 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 20 sites for Orycterocetus crocodilinus, 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

10 references

Each of the 20 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 Orycterocetus crocodilinus

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No 3D scan of Orycterocetus crocodilinus 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.

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itOrycterocetus through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cope 1867