Platanistoidea

River dolphins also called Freshwater dolphins, are a polyphyletic group of fully aquatic mammals that reside exclusively in freshwater or even in brackish water. They are an informal grouping of dolphins, which itself is a paraphyletic group within the infraorder Cetacea. These dolphins are placed in three superfamilies, Platanistoidea (Platanistidae), Inioidea and Lipotoidea (Lipotidae). They comprise the families Platanistidae, the possibly extinct Lipotidae, Iniidae and Pontoporiidae. There are five extant species of river dolphins. River dolphins, alongside other cetaceans, belong to the clade Artiodactyla, with even-toed ungulates, and their closest living relatives the hippopotamuses, from which they diverged about 40 million years ago. Specific types of dolphins can be pink.

Platanistoidea

Tomas Hrbek, Vera Maria Ferreira da Silva, Nicole Dutra, Waleska Gravena, Anthony R. Martin, Izeni Pires Farias · CC BY 2.5 · 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
OdontocetiPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Odontoceti
Life habit
aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Cetacea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marine,freshwaterPBDB, for Odontoceti

Time the record covers

At least 13 million years on record.

The record covers at least 27.3 Mya to 13.82 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 5.333 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 86 occurrencesOligocene — about 21 of 86 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 65 of 86 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 86 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 4 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 5 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 5 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 4 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 5 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 5 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 5 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 8 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 9 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 9 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 9 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 7 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 1 occurrence13–12 Mya — about 1 occurrence12–11 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences11–9.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.7–8.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.7–7.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.7–6.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.7–5.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.8–4.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27.3 Mya13.82 Mya34.5 Mya4.8 Mya

86 occurrences of Platanistoidea on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

86 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

45 formations

Chilcatay — 14.59°S, 75.64°WChilcatay — 14.38°S, 75.90°WOtekaike Limestone — 44.86°S, 170.62°EOtekaike Limestone — 44.80°S, 170.53°EOtekaike Limestone — 44.96°S, 170.65°EOtekaike Limestone — 44.66°S, 170.65°ECalvert — 39.20°N, 75.60°WCalvert — 38.74°N, 76.56°WCalvert — 37.54°N, 77.44°WCalvert — 38.38°N, 76.99°WGaiman — 42.78°S, 65.04°WGaiman — 43.30°S, 65.42°WGaiman — 43.65°S, 65.33°WGaiman — 42.33°S, 65.40°WGlobigerina Limestone — 35.90°N, 14.33°EGlobigerina Limestone — 36.03°N, 14.21°EGlobigerina Limestone — 35.90°N, 14.36°EEl Cien — 24.38°N, 110.75°WEl Cien — 25.19°N, 110.91°WEl Cien — 24.44°N, 110.70°WKokoamu Greensand — 44.68°S, 170.49°EKokoamu Greensand — 44.95°S, 170.65°EKokoamu Greensand — 44.96°S, 170.66°ELibano Sandstone — 46.14°N, 12.22°ECastillo — 10.37°N, 70.05°WTemblor — 35.47°N, 119.45°WTemblor — 35.46°N, 118.92°WNye — 44.57°N, 124.07°WNye — 44.54°N, 124.08°WMonte Leon — 49.53°S, 68.36°WPietra Leccese — 40.35°N, 18.17°EGambier Limestone — 37.82°S, 140.64°EJan Juc — 38.33°S, 144.30°ERosarito Beach — 32.12°N, 116.80°WJewett — 35.67°N, 118.91°WPoul Creek — 60.05°N, 142.05°WPungo River — 35.40°N, 76.80°WCantaure — 11.94°N, 70.01°WCanature — 11.94°N, 70.01°WAkeyo — 35.35°N, 137.22°EChatt — 54.36°N, 10.88°E"Topanga" — 33.66°N, 117.63°W

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The named rock units Platanistoidea has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 21 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 8 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Platanistoidea and its relatives

Miocene

Where Platanistoidea and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

788 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 74 sites for Platanistoidea, 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

67 references

Each of the 86 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. 55 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 Platanistoidea

Credit
Tomas Hrbek, Vera Maria Ferreira da Silva, Nicole Dutra, Waleska Gravena, Anthony R. Martin, Izeni Pires Farias
Licence
CC BY 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Platanistoidea was found in Smithsonian Open Access and Sketchfab.

MorphoSource 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 itOdontoceti through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Simpson 1945