Paramys

Paramys is an extinct genus of rodents from North America, Europe, and Asia. It is one of the oldest genera of rodents known and probably lived in trees. While the genus name literally means "near a mouse", it coexisted with Thisbemys, a similar rodent, thus yielding a reference to Pyramus and Thisbe.

Paramys

Uncredited · CC0 · 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
ParamyinaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Rodentia
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Rodentia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 10 million years on record.

The record covers at least 56 Mya to 45.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 57.5 Mya to 37.71 Mya.

Paleocene — about 8 of 353 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 345 of 353 occurrencesEocene58–57 Mya — about 1 occurrence57–57 Mya — about 4 occurrences57–56 Mya — about 8 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 38 occurrences55–55 Mya — about 38 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 38 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 38 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 38 occurrences52–52 Mya — about 38 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 37 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 10 occurrences50–50 Mya — about 10 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 10 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 10 occurrences48–48 Mya — about 9 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 8 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 8 occurrences46–46 Mya — about 4 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences43–43 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences41–41 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences39–39 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences56 Mya45.9 Mya58 Mya37.2 Mya

353 occurrences of Paramys 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

353 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

30 formations

Willwood — 44.00°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.63°N, 108.50°WWillwood — 44.30°N, 109.00°WWillwood — 44.77°N, 109.08°WWillwood — 43.95°N, 107.57°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 109.93°WWillwood — 44.59°N, 108.86°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.67°WWillwood — 44.56°N, 108.70°WWillwood — 44.59°N, 108.62°WWillwood — 44.42°N, 108.69°WWillwood — 44.53°N, 108.43°WWillwood — 44.53°N, 108.79°WWillwood — 44.59°N, 108.41°WWillwood — 44.66°N, 108.53°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 108.72°WWillwood — 44.52°N, 108.57°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 108.90°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 108.83°WWillwood — 44.41°N, 108.79°WWillwood — 44.60°N, 108.78°WWillwood — 44.16°N, 107.87°WWillwood — 44.15°N, 107.86°WWasatch — 41.27°N, 110.33°WWasatch — 40.60°N, 108.10°WWasatch — 41.70°N, 109.00°WWasatch — 42.70°N, 110.10°WWasatch — 41.80°N, 107.00°WWasatch — 41.20°N, 110.50°WWasatch — 41.80°N, 110.70°WWasatch — 41.75°N, 108.00°WWasatch — 42.37°N, 108.91°WWasatch — 41.83°N, 110.75°WWasatch — 41.86°N, 110.76°WBridger — 42.70°N, 110.10°WBridger — 41.70°N, 109.00°WBridger — 41.20°N, 110.50°WBridger — 42.42°N, 109.35°WBridger — 41.80°N, 110.70°WBridger — 41.77°N, 110.33°WBridger — 41.13°N, 110.13°WDeBeque — 40.00°N, 107.90°WDeBeque — 39.70°N, 107.60°WWind River — 44.00°N, 106.60°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWind River — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.33°WSan Jose — 35.70°N, 107.00°WSan Jose — 36.50°N, 107.00°WHuerfano — 37.80°N, 105.10°W"Wasatch" — 44.00°N, 106.60°WWiggins — 43.70°N, 108.70°WTuscahoma — 32.36°N, 88.70°WHannold Hill — 29.42°N, 103.14°WIndian Meadows — 43.20°N, 108.20°WGreen River — 42.70°N, 110.10°WGreen River — 40.20°N, 109.90°WTienen — 50.82°N, 5.10°EVaugirard — 48.81°N, 2.24°ESuffolk Pebble Beds — 52.10°N, 1.32°EFort Union — 41.92°N, 108.56°WLower Variegated Sequence — 43.90°N, 110.80°WMargaret — 78.50°N, 82.00°WPass Peak — 42.70°N, 110.10°WGolden Valley — 46.90°N, 102.80°WWapiti — 44.30°N, 109.00°WAycross — 44.30°N, 109.00°WFowkes — 41.31°N, 111.02°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Paramys has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 6 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 12 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Paramys and its relatives

Eocene

Where Paramys and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

863 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 280 sites for Paramys, 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

65 references

Each of the 353 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. 53 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 Paramys

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Paramys delicatus · amnh:fm:12506

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 itParamyinae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Leidy 1871