Paraxerus

The African bush squirrels are a genus of squirrels, Paraxerus, in the subfamily Xerinae. They are only found in Africa. The 11 species in this genus are:Alexander's bush squirrel Boehm's bush squirrel Smith's bush squirrel Cooper's mountain squirrel Striped bush squirrel Black and red bush squirrel Ochre bush squirrel Red bush squirrel Green bush squirrel Swynnerton's bush squirrel Vincent's bush squirrel

Paraxerus

Nico Conradie from Centurion, South Africa · CC BY 2.0 · 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
African Bush SquirrelPBDB
Sits inside
ProtoxeriniPBDB
Diet
granivore, frugivorePBDB, for Sciuridae
Life habit
arborealPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 3.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 1 of 11 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 11 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 3 of 11 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 3 of 11 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.7–9.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.3–8.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.9–8.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.5–8.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.1–7.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.7–7.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.9–6.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.5–6.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.1–5.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.7–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.3–4.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.9–4.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.4–4.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.6–3.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.2–2.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.8–2.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.4–2.0 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.0–1.6 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences809 ka–404 ka Mya — about 0.6 occurrences404 ka–0 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.6 Mya11.7 ka12.1 Mya0 Mya

11 occurrences of Paraxerus on record, most of them in the Pliocene. 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

11 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

Shungura — 5.08°N, 36.03°EVogel River Series — 3.22°S, 35.22°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°EAdu-Asa — 10.32°N, 40.25°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Paraxerus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Paraxerus and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Paraxerus and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

327 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 11 sites for Paraxerus, 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 11 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 content2

Picture of Paraxerus

Credit
Nico Conradie from Centurion, South Africa
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Paraxerus cepapi · USNM:MAMM:USNM 367956

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 itProtoxerini through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Forsyth Major 1893