Procavia

Procavia is a genus of hyraxes. The rock hyrax (P. capensis) is currently the only extant species belonging to this genus, though other species were recognized in the past, including P. habessinica and P. ruficeps, both now relegated to subspecific rank.

Procavia

Prosthetic Head · 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
Also called
Cape hyraxPBDB
Sits inside
ProcaviidaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Procaviidae
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Procaviidae
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 7.246 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 91 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 10 of 91 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 59 of 91 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 21 of 91 occurrences7.5–7.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.2–7.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.0–6.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.7–6.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.5–6.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.2–5.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.9–5.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.7–5.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.4–5.2 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences5.2–4.9 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.9–4.6 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.6–4.4 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.4–4.1 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences3.9–3.6 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences3.6–3.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.4–3.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.1–2.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.8–2.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.6–2.3 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.1–1.8 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.8–1.5 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.5–1.3 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.3–1.0 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.0–775 ka Mya — about 5 occurrences775 ka–516 ka Mya — about 5 occurrences516 ka–258 ka Mya — about 5 occurrences258 ka–0 Mya — about 36 occurrences3.6 Mya11.7 ka7.7 Mya0 Mya

91 occurrences of Procavia on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

91 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

5 formations

Swartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ESterkfontein — 26.02°S, 27.73°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Procavia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 66 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Procavia and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Procavia and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

567 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 76 sites for Procavia, 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

50 references

Each of the 91 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. 38 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 Procavia

Credit
Prosthetic Head
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
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
Procavia capensis · umzc:H4981C

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 itProcaviidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Storr 1780