Protocetidae

Protocetidae, the protocetids, form a paraphyletic, diverse and heterogeneous group of extinct cetaceans known from Asia, Europe, Africa, South America, and North America.

Protocetidae

Cliff from Arlington, VA (Outside Washington DC), USA · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikidata/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
CetaceaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Cetacea
Life habit
aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Cetacea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
Environment
marinePBDB, for Cetacea

Time the record covers

At least 3.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 41.03 Mya to 37.71 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 48.07 Mya to 33.9 Mya.

Eocene — about 70 of 70 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 70 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences48–48 Mya — about 2 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 2 occurrences47–47 Mya — about 2 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 2 occurrences46–46 Mya — about 2 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 2 occurrences45–45 Mya — about 2 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 2 occurrences44–44 Mya — about 2 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 2 occurrences43–43 Mya — about 2 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 2 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 2 occurrences41–41 Mya — about 2 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 6 occurrences40–40 Mya — about 6 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 6 occurrences39–39 Mya — about 6 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 6 occurrences38–38 Mya — about 6 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 3 occurrences37–37 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences36–36 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences35–35 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences34–34 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences41.03 Mya37.71 Mya48.6 Mya33.4 Mya

70 occurrences of Protocetidae 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

70 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

26 formations

Aridal — 25.09°N, 13.89°WAridal — 25.15°N, 13.32°WAridal — 25.44°N, 13.72°WDomanda — 30.14°N, 70.36°EDomanda — 30.00°N, 70.13°EDomanda — 30.77°N, 70.44°EDomanda — 30.99°N, 70.22°EDomanda — 30.84°N, 70.22°EHarudi — 23.51°N, 68.69°EHarudi — 23.51°N, 68.78°EHarudi — 23.78°N, 68.79°EHabib Rahi — 30.09°N, 69.79°ECook Mountain — 31.69°N, 93.07°WCook Mountain — 31.13°N, 95.91°WCook Mountain — 32.34°N, 89.14°WCook Mountain — 32.01°N, 88.73°WGehannam — 29.36°N, 30.16°EGehannam — 29.32°N, 30.17°EGehannam — 29.31°N, 30.06°EMidawara — 29.10°N, 30.47°EMidawara — 29.08°N, 30.12°ELisbon — 31.76°N, 88.10°WLisbon — 31.85°N, 88.43°WTupelo Bay — 33.33°N, 79.67°WDrazinda — 30.78°N, 70.43°EDrazinda — 30.76°N, 70.47°EAmeki — 5.56°N, 7.52°EAmeki — 6.00°N, 7.00°ESamlat — 23.30°N, 16.06°WBlue Bluff — 33.14°N, 81.76°WGiushi — 30.04°N, 31.28°EKressenberg — 47.92°N, 13.00°EGebel Hof — 28.45°N, 31.83°EWadi Esh-Shallala — 30.85°N, 35.85°EYegua — 30.53°N, 96.65°WMokattam — 30.36°N, 31.27°EShark River — 40.19°N, 74.16°WCastle Hayne — 35.15°N, 77.14°WPiney Point — 37.60°N, 77.09°WTaiba — 15.04°N, 16.82°WParacas — 13.79°S, 76.24°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Protocetidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Protocetidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Protocetidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

248 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 47 sites for Protocetidae, 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

43 references

Each of the 70 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. 31 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 Protocetidae

Credit
Cliff from Arlington, VA (Outside Washington DC), USA
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Protocetidae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access 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 itCetacea through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Stromer 1908