Phenacodontidae

Phenacodontidae is an extinct family of large herbivorous mammals traditionally placed in the "wastebasket taxon" Condylarthra, which may instead represent early-stage perissodactyls. They lived from the late early Paleocene to early middle Eocene and their fossil remains have been found in North America and Europe. The only unequivocal Asian phenacodontid is Lophocion asiaticus.

Phenacodontidae

Heinrich Harder (1858-1935) · Public Domain · 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
condylarthPBDB
Sits inside
PhenacodontaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 61.66 Mya to 37.71 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 1291 occurrencesPaleocene — about 620 of 1291 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 671 of 1291 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 1291 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 0 of 1291 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 1291 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 1291 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 11 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 54 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 141 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 349 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 314 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 285 occurrences52–50 Mya — about 115 occurrences50–47 Mya — about 17 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 3 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences43–41 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences39–36 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences30–28 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences28–25 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–7.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.9–5.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.5–1.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences61.66 Mya37.71 Mya67 Mya1 Mya

1,291 occurrences of Phenacodontidae 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

1,291 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

41 formations

Willwood — 44.30°N, 109.00°WWillwood — 44.82°N, 109.05°WWillwood — 44.00°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 109.93°WWillwood — 44.51°N, 108.68°WWillwood — 44.57°N, 108.72°WWillwood — 43.95°N, 107.57°WWillwood — 44.15°N, 107.86°WWillwood — 44.79°N, 109.01°WWillwood — 44.59°N, 108.86°WWillwood — 44.42°N, 108.69°WWillwood — 44.44°N, 108.63°WWillwood — 44.59°N, 108.62°WWillwood — 44.53°N, 108.43°WWillwood — 44.53°N, 108.79°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 108.54°WWillwood — 44.60°N, 108.32°WWillwood — 44.64°N, 108.43°WWillwood — 44.53°N, 108.32°WWillwood — 44.66°N, 108.53°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 108.72°WWillwood — 44.68°N, 108.76°WWillwood — 44.52°N, 108.57°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 108.90°WWillwood — 44.64°N, 108.76°WWillwood — 44.41°N, 108.79°WWillwood — 44.33°N, 108.77°WWillwood — 44.76°N, 108.88°WWillwood — 44.16°N, 107.87°WWillwood — 44.91°N, 108.93°WFort Union — 46.05°N, 104.48°WFort Union — 41.70°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 41.30°N, 107.74°WFort Union — 43.85°N, 108.35°WFort Union — 45.80°N, 109.80°WFort Union — 47.80°N, 106.10°WFort Union — 46.90°N, 101.50°WFort Union — 46.59°N, 101.74°WFort Union — 46.90°N, 103.90°WFort Union — 44.72°N, 108.38°WFort Union — 44.68°N, 108.32°WFort Union — 45.20°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 43.20°N, 107.10°WFort Union — 45.10°N, 106.90°WFort Union — 44.91°N, 108.93°WFort Union — 43.45°N, 109.16°WFort Union — 41.92°N, 108.56°WFort Union — 44.50°N, 108.00°WFort Union — 44.30°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 43.20°N, 108.20°WFort Union — 44.72°N, 108.62°WFort Union — 44.67°N, 108.46°WFort Union — 44.15°N, 107.86°WFort Union — 39.27°N, 108.18°WFort Union — 44.83°N, 108.82°WFort Union — 44.86°N, 108.97°WFort Union — 44.05°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 44.88°N, 109.12°WFort Union — 44.85°N, 108.76°WFort Union — 44.85°N, 108.74°WFort Union — 44.85°N, 108.75°WFort Union — 44.64°N, 109.11°WFort Union — 44.85°N, 108.89°WFort Union — 41.68°N, 107.52°WFort Union — 41.83°N, 108.60°WDeBeque — 40.00°N, 107.90°WDeBeque — 39.20°N, 108.20°WDeBeque — 39.27°N, 108.18°WDeBeque — 39.70°N, 107.60°WWasatch — 41.80°N, 110.70°WWasatch — 41.27°N, 110.33°WWasatch — 43.25°N, 110.42°WWasatch — 42.70°N, 110.10°WWasatch — 40.60°N, 108.10°WWasatch — 41.70°N, 109.00°WWasatch — 41.20°N, 110.50°WWasatch — 42.07°N, 109.10°WWasatch — 42.24°N, 110.19°WWasatch — 41.83°N, 110.75°WWasatch — 41.86°N, 110.75°WWind River — 44.00°N, 106.60°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWind River — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWind River — 41.60°N, 105.80°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.33°WNacimiento — 36.30°N, 108.20°WNacimiento — 35.70°N, 107.00°WNacimiento — 36.57°N, 107.97°WNacimiento — 36.18°N, 107.58°WNacimiento — 36.27°N, 107.76°WSan Jose — 36.50°N, 107.00°WSan Jose — 35.70°N, 107.00°WGoler — 35.49°N, 117.78°WGoler — 35.50°N, 117.97°WGoler — 35.58°N, 117.82°WGoler — 35.65°N, 117.94°W"Wasatch" — 44.00°N, 106.60°W"Wasatch" — 43.90°N, 105.70°WPaskapoo — 51.10°N, 114.50°WPaskapoo — 51.18°N, 114.43°WPaskapoo — 52.60°N, 114.10°WPaskapoo — 52.20°N, 113.60°WPaskapoo — 51.50°N, 112.30°WPaskapoo — 54.80°N, 115.46°WPaskapoo — 53.23°N, 114.70°WLower Variegated Sequence — 43.90°N, 110.80°WLower Variegated Sequence — 43.20°N, 108.20°WBlack Peaks — 29.20°N, 103.20°WBlack Peaks — 29.42°N, 103.10°WBlack Peaks — 29.46°N, 103.15°WHanna — 41.80°N, 107.00°W"Fort Union" (= Lebo) — 46.20°N, 109.90°W"Fort Union" (= Lebo) — 45.80°N, 109.80°W"Fort Union No. 3" (= Melville) — 45.80°N, 109.80°W"Fort Union No. 3" (= Melville) — 46.20°N, 109.90°WIndian Meadows — 43.20°N, 108.20°WHoback — 42.70°N, 110.10°WRavenscrag — 49.70°N, 110.10°WRavenscrag — 49.06°N, 102.75°WSentinel Butte — 47.20°N, 101.90°WSentinel Butte — 47.50°N, 101.20°WLas Tetas de Cabra — 28.68°N, 114.08°WPorcupine Hills — 51.00°N, 114.10°WPorcupine Hills — 51.10°N, 114.28°WEvanston — 41.80°N, 110.70°WBullion Creek — 47.03°N, 103.65°WHuerfano — 37.80°N, 105.10°W

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The named rock units Phenacodontidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 17 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 259 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Phenacodontidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Phenacodontidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

650 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 809 sites for Phenacodontidae, 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

108 references

Each of the 1,291 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. 96 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 content1

Picture of Phenacodontidae

Credit
Heinrich Harder (1858-1935)
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Phenacodontidae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itPhenacodonta through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cope 1881