Paratoceras

Paratoceras is an extinct genus of Artiodactyla, of the family Protoceratidae, endemic to North America. They lived during the Early to Middle Miocene, 20.4—10.3 Ma, existing for approximately 10 million years. Paratoceras resembled deer, but were probably more closely related to chevrotains. In addition to having horns on the top of the head, they had a third horn on the snout.

Paratoceras

Dave Strauss · CC BY 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
ProtoceratinaePBDB
Diet
browserPBDB, for Protoceratidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Protoceratidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 10 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 12.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 29.5 Mya to 9.4 Mya.

Oligocene — about 2 of 13 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 11 of 13 occurrencesMiocene30–29 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences29–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences26–26 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences24–24 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 1 occurrence16–15 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences10–9.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.6–8.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23.04 Mya12.5 Mya30 Mya8.9 Mya

13 occurrences of Paratoceras 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

13 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

Cucaracha — 9.10°N, 79.70°WCucaracha — 9.05°N, 79.67°WCucaracha — 9.03°N, 79.64°WFleming — 30.50°N, 95.00°WSuchilquitongo — 17.10°N, 96.70°WBalumtum Sandstone — 17.20°N, 92.63°WLas Cascadas — 9.06°N, 79.67°WCulebra — 9.05°N, 79.66°WBelgrade — 34.89°N, 77.23°W

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The named rock units Paratoceras has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Paratoceras and its relatives

Miocene

Where Paratoceras and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

152 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 11 sites for Paratoceras, 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

8 references

Each of the 13 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 Paratoceras

Credit
Dave Strauss
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Paratoceras 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.

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 itProtoceratinae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Frick 1937