Pontoporiidae

Pontoporiidae is a family of toothed whales containing the extant genus Pontoporia and ten extinct genera. Pontoporia contains the family's sole extant species, the La Plata dolphin, which is endemic to southeastern South America.

Pontoporiidae

Rafael Tosi · CC BY 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
InioideaPBDB
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 13.82 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 61 occurrencesMiocene — about 43 of 61 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 10 of 61 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 4 of 61 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 5 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 6 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 6 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 6 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 6 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 5 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 4 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 4 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 4 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 8 occurrences13.82 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

61 occurrences of Pontoporiidae on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

61 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

17 formations

Pisco — 15.58°S, 74.72°WPisco — 14.56°S, 75.67°WPisco — 15.44°S, 74.87°WPisco — 15.50°S, 74.80°WPisco — 14.52°S, 75.71°WPisco — 14.33°S, 75.90°WPisco — 14.31°S, 75.81°WPisco — 14.45°S, 75.75°WBahía Inglesa — 27.08°S, 70.84°WBahía Inglesa — 27.14°S, 70.88°WBahía Inglesa — 27.16°S, 70.89°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WBreda — 52.15°N, 6.61°EBreda — 51.70°N, 5.73°EBreda — 51.37°N, 3.91°EPeace River — 27.68°N, 81.95°WPeace River — 27.90°N, 81.80°WCoquimbo — 29.98°S, 71.39°WCoquimbo — 29.97°S, 71.35°WGram — 55.47°N, 8.45°EUpper Coralline Limestone — 35.95°N, 14.34°EEntre Rios — 33.72°S, 59.25°WParana — 31.38°S, 60.23°WTirabuzon — 27.31°N, 112.25°WPungo River — 35.40°N, 76.80°WSt Marys — 38.34°N, 76.41°WChui — 31.11°S, 50.98°WSenhata — 35.16°N, 139.86°ESolimoes — 10.12°S, 66.88°WDeist — 51.19°N, 4.46°E

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The named rock units Pontoporiidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Pontoporiidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Pontoporiidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,074 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 45 sites for Pontoporiidae, 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

41 references

Each of the 61 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. 29 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 Pontoporiidae

Credit
Rafael Tosi
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Pontoporiidae 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 itInioidea through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1870