Rhynchocyon

Rhynchocyon is a genus of sengis in the family Macroscelididae. Members of this genus are known colloquially as giant sengis. They are a ground-dwelling mammal, significantly larger than their relatives in the order Macroscelidea that live primarily in dense forests across eastern Africa. Habitats range from eastern Africa's coastal forests, Rift Valley highlands, and the Congo basin. The species is widely threatened, with two of four assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species. Habitat fragmentation from the growth of human settlements and activities are the primary threats to their populations. The genus contains the following five species and several subspecies:Golden-rumped sengi, Rhynchocyon chrysopygus Rhynchocyon chrysopygus mandelai Chequered sengi, Rhynchocyon cirnei Rhynchocyon cirnei shirensis Rhynchocyon cirnei reichardi Rhynchocyon cirnei hendersoni Rhynchocyon cirnei macrurus Black and rufous sengi, Rhynchocyon petersi Rhynchocyon petersi adersi Stuhlmann's sengi, Rhynchocyon stuhlmanni Grey-faced sengi, Rhynchocyon udzungwensis

Rhynchocyon

Lennart Tange from Eindhoven, The Netherlands · CC BY 2.0 · 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
RhynchocyonidaePBDB
Diet
insectivorePBDB, for Macroscelidea
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Macroscelidea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 19 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 3.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Oligocene — about 1 of 8 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 3 of 8 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 8 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 8 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences24–24 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences18–18 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences4.7–3.8 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences3.8–2.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.9–2.1 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences23.04 Mya3.6 Mya27.8 Mya2.1 Mya

8 occurrences of Rhynchocyon on record, most of them in the Pliocene. 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

8 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

Vogel River Series — 3.21°S, 35.21°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°ELegetet — 0.18°S, 35.27°EKanapoi — 2.32°N, 36.07°EUpper Koru Series — 0.23°S, 35.34°EMuhroni Agglomerates — 0.14°S, 35.21°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Rhynchocyon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Rhynchocyon and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Rhynchocyon and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

233 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 8 sites for Rhynchocyon, 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

4 references

Each of the 8 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. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Rhynchocyon

Credit
Lennart Tange from Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Rhynchocyon petersi petersi · NHMUK:ZOO:1886.9.21.1

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

Everything alive alongside itRhynchocyonidae through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Peters 1847