Phenacodus

Phenacodus is an extinct genus of mammals from the late Paleocene through middle Eocene, about 55 million years ago. It is one of the earliest and most primitive of the ungulates, typifying the family Phenacodontidae and the order Perissodactyla.

Phenacodus

Jonathan Chen · CC BY-SA 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
Sits inside
PhenacodontidaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Phenacodontidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Phenacodontidae
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 61.66 Mya to 51.1 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 45.9 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 675 occurrencesPaleocene — about 304 of 675 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 371 of 675 occurrencesEocene67–66 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences66–65 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences65–64 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences64–64 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences64–63 Mya — about 1 occurrence63–62 Mya — about 2 occurrences62–62 Mya — about 2 occurrences62–61 Mya — about 3 occurrences61–60 Mya — about 24 occurrences60–59 Mya — about 24 occurrences59–59 Mya — about 25 occurrences59–58 Mya — about 25 occurrences58–57 Mya — about 37 occurrences57–57 Mya — about 84 occurrences57–56 Mya — about 81 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 51 occurrences55–55 Mya — about 51 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 51 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 51 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 51 occurrences52–52 Mya — about 51 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 46 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 3 occurrences50–50 Mya — about 3 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 3 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 3 occurrences48–48 Mya — about 1 occurrence48–47 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences61.66 Mya51.1 Mya66.5 Mya45.4 Mya

675 occurrences of Phenacodus 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

675 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

29 formations

Willwood — 44.30°N, 109.00°WWillwood — 44.00°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 109.93°WWillwood — 44.57°N, 108.72°WWillwood — 43.95°N, 107.57°WWillwood — 44.59°N, 108.86°WWillwood — 44.42°N, 108.69°WWillwood — 44.44°N, 108.63°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.67°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 — 44.59°N, 108.41°WWillwood — 44.53°N, 108.32°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 — 44.64°N, 108.76°WWillwood — 44.41°N, 108.79°WWillwood — 44.33°N, 108.77°WWillwood — 44.16°N, 107.87°WWillwood — 44.15°N, 107.86°WFort Union — 46.90°N, 101.50°WFort Union — 41.70°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 44.72°N, 108.38°WFort Union — 45.20°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 43.20°N, 107.10°WFort Union — 44.91°N, 108.93°WFort Union — 43.45°N, 109.16°WFort Union — 41.92°N, 108.56°WFort Union — 44.30°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 43.20°N, 108.20°WFort Union — 44.68°N, 108.34°WFort Union — 44.15°N, 107.86°WFort Union — 39.27°N, 108.18°WFort Union — 44.73°N, 108.60°WFort Union — 44.73°N, 108.47°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, 108.79°WFort Union — 44.64°N, 109.11°WFort Union — 44.85°N, 108.89°WFort Union — 44.85°N, 108.74°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 — 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°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°WGoler — 35.50°N, 117.77°WGoler — 35.50°N, 117.97°WGoler — 35.58°N, 117.82°WGoler — 35.65°N, 117.94°WBlack Peaks — 29.20°N, 103.20°WBlack Peaks — 29.42°N, 103.10°WBlack Peaks — 29.46°N, 103.15°WSan Jose — 35.70°N, 107.00°WSan Jose — 36.50°N, 107.00°WLower Variegated Sequence — 43.90°N, 110.80°WLower Variegated Sequence — 43.20°N, 108.20°W"Wasatch" — 44.00°N, 106.60°W"Wasatch" — 43.90°N, 105.70°WIndian Meadows — 43.20°N, 108.20°WHoback — 42.70°N, 110.10°WHuerfano — 37.80°N, 105.10°WHannold Hill — 29.42°N, 103.14°WTienen — 50.33°N, 4.28°ETienen — 50.82°N, 5.10°ELignites de Soissonais — 49.05°N, 4.00°EAquia — 38.44°N, 77.26°WSentinel Butte — 47.50°N, 101.20°WRavenscrag — 49.06°N, 102.75°WPaskapoo — 54.80°N, 115.46°WEvanston — 41.80°N, 110.70°WBullion Creek — 47.03°N, 103.65°WCuchara — 37.80°N, 105.10°WLas Tetas de Cabra — 28.68°N, 114.08°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Phenacodus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 123 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Phenacodus and its relatives

Eocene

Where Phenacodus and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

651 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 536 sites for Phenacodus, 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

58 references

Each of the 675 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. 46 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 Phenacodus

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Phenacodus primaeveus · AMNH:FM:15262

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itPhenacodontidae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cope 1873