Protopterus

Protopterus

Uncredited · 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
Also called
african lungfishPBDB
Sits inside
LepidosirenidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Ceratodontiformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Ceratodontiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Ceratodontiformes
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Lepidosirenidae

Time the record covers

At least 93 million years on record.

The record covers at least 93.9 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 100.5 Mya to 0 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 0 of 64 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 9 of 64 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 64 occurrencesEocene — about 6 of 64 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 64 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 12 of 64 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 14 of 64 occurrencesPleistocene — about 19 of 64 occurrences103–99 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences99–96 Mya — about 1 occurrence96–92 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences92–89 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences89–85 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences82–79 Mya — about 1 occurrence79–75 Mya — about 1 occurrence75–72 Mya — about 1 occurrence72–68 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences68–65 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences58–55 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences55–51 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences51–48 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences48–44 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences44–41 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences41–38 Mya — about 1 occurrence38–34 Mya — about 1 occurrence34–31 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences31–27 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences27–24 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences24–21 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences21–17 Mya — about 2 occurrences17–14 Mya — about 2 occurrences14–10 Mya — about 2 occurrences10–6.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.8–3.4 Mya — about 12 occurrences3.4–0 Mya — about 25 occurrences93.9 Mya11.7 ka103 Mya0 Mya

64 occurrences of Protopterus 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

64 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

Koobi Fora — 4.26°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 4.24°N, 36.26°EKoobi Fora — 4.29°N, 36.23°EKoobi Fora — 3.77°N, 36.44°EKoobi Fora — 3.78°N, 36.33°EKoobi Fora — 3.87°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 4.18°N, 36.42°EKoobi Fora — 3.59°N, 36.24°EWembere-Manonga — 3.87°S, 33.72°EWembere-Manonga — 3.92°S, 33.88°EWembere-Manonga — 4.03°S, 33.77°EWadi Milk — 16.70°N, 31.14°ENachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EWarwire — 1.50°N, 31.00°ENkondo — 1.50°N, 31.00°EKakara — 1.00°N, 30.50°EQuseir — 25.55°N, 29.31°ENawata — 2.90°N, 36.05°EChiwondo — 10.17°S, 34.00°ENkondo/Warwire — 1.50°N, 31.00°EMuluk — 30.42°N, 30.25°EShungura — 5.06°N, 36.03°EMaboko — 0.15°N, 34.62°ENawata or Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EOluka — 1.00°N, 30.50°EMizdah — 26.58°N, 12.77°EInbeceten — 15.05°N, 6.03°EIdam Unit — 25.71°N, 18.18°ETurkana Grit — 2.33°N, 35.83°EBakate — 4.27°N, 36.60°EIfezouane — 31.51°N, 4.08°WAshawaq — 17.00°N, 53.00°EShendi — 17.18°N, 33.12°E

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The named rock units Protopterus 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. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Protopterus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Protopterus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

617 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 63 sites for Protopterus, 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

38 references

Each of the 64 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. 26 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 Protopterus

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Protopterus annectens · TxVP:M:1129

3D model

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

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itLepidosirenidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Agassiz 1843