Orycteropus afer

The aardvark is a medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa. The aardvark is the only living member of the genus Orycteropus, the family Orycteropodidae and the order Tubulidentata.

Orycteropus afer

Kelly Abram · CC BY 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
Also called
aardvarkPBDB
Sits inside
OrycteropusPBDB
Diet
insectivorePBDB, for Orycteropus
Life habit
semifossorialPBDB, for Orycteropus
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria
Mass
1.9 kgWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 2.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 32 occurrencesMiocene — about 2 of 32 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 32 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 20 of 32 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 5 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 19 occurrences2.58 Mya – 11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

32 occurrences of Orycteropus afer 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

32 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

7 formations

Swartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EVarswater & Bredasdorp — 32.98°S, 18.15°EVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°EKapthurin — 0.50°N, 36.00°ENubia — 16.25°N, 33.75°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°EKlein Brak — 34.05°S, 22.84°E

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The named rock units Orycteropus afer has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 24 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Orycteropus afer and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Orycteropus afer and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

416 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 32 sites for Orycteropus afer, 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

21 references

Each of the 32 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. 9 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 Orycteropus afer

Credit
Kelly Abram
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Orycteropus afer · amnh:mammals:51235

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itOrycteropus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Pallas 1766)