Rodentia

Searched as Rodentia indet.. The Paleobiology Database treats Rodentia as the accepted name.

Rodents are a group of mammals belonging to the order Rodentia characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. Rodents make up about 40% of all mammal species. Rodents are native to all major landmasses except Antarctica and a handful of isolated oceanic islands — though humans have since introduced them to nearly all of these places too. Most rodents are small animals with robust bodies, short limbs, and long tails. They use their sharp incisors to gnaw food, excavate burrows, and defend themselves. Most eat plant material, but some have more varied diets.

Rodentia

Wilfredor · CC0 · 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
rodentPBDB
Sits inside
SimplicidentataPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 55 million years on record.

The record covers at least 56 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 355 occurrencesPaleocene — about 14 of 355 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 157 of 355 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 13 of 355 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 70 of 355 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 24 of 355 occurrencesPleistocene — about 65 of 355 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 13 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 41 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 42 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 19 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 12 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 11 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 10 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 10 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 7 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 3 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 3 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 3 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 2 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 2 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 3 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 4 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 8 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 9 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 14 occurrences16–13 Mya — about 5 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 6 occurrences11–9.0 Mya — about 9 occurrences9.0–6.7 Mya — about 10 occurrences6.7–4.5 Mya — about 17 occurrences4.5–2.2 Mya — about 20 occurrences2.2–0 Mya — about 72 occurrences56 Mya11.7 ka67 Mya0 Mya

355 occurrences of Rodentia on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

355 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

95 formations

Willwood — 44.30°N, 109.00°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 109.93°WWillwood — 44.59°N, 108.86°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 108.55°WWillwood — 44.63°N, 108.41°WWillwood — 44.52°N, 108.58°WWillwood — 44.66°N, 108.68°WWillwood — 44.33°N, 108.77°WWillwood — 44.36°N, 108.75°WWillwood — 44.35°N, 108.75°WWillwood — 44.38°N, 108.79°WWillwood — 44.58°N, 108.62°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.67°WWillwood — 44.58°N, 108.71°WWillwood — 44.61°N, 108.76°WWillwood — 44.67°N, 108.84°WWillwood — 44.66°N, 108.85°WWillwood — 44.44°N, 108.65°WWillwood — 44.15°N, 107.87°WSolimões — 9.37°S, 69.94°WSolimões — 10.95°S, 69.69°WSolimões — 8.98°S, 72.75°WSolimões — 8.32°S, 73.28°WSolimões — 8.82°S, 72.82°WSolimões — 9.00°S, 72.76°WSolimões — 9.16°S, 72.71°WSolimões — 9.28°S, 72.69°WSolimões — 9.36°S, 72.72°WSolimões — 8.72°S, 72.81°WSolimões — 9.15°S, 72.67°WSolimões — 8.79°S, 67.50°WBridger — 41.70°N, 109.00°WBridger — 41.80°N, 110.70°WBridger — 42.70°N, 110.10°WBridger — 41.20°N, 110.50°WWasatch — 41.70°N, 109.00°WWasatch — 40.60°N, 108.10°WWasatch — 42.07°N, 109.10°WWasatch — 41.80°N, 110.70°W"Wasatch" — 44.00°N, 106.60°WUinta — 40.20°N, 109.30°WUinta — 40.08°N, 109.27°WUinta — 40.05°N, 109.26°WGlib Zegdou — 30.00°N, 4.00°WLower Freshwater Molasse — 46.88°N, 7.11°EMonte Hermoso — 38.97°S, 61.70°WArikaree — 43.20°N, 107.10°WArikaree — 43.20°N, 108.20°WVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ELegetet — 0.18°S, 35.27°EKoobi Fora — 4.18°N, 36.42°EHeadon Beds — 50.72°N, 1.59°WSanta Cruz — 50.28°S, 70.28°WSanta Cruz — 50.16°S, 69.68°WGreen River — 41.80°N, 110.70°WGreen River — 41.20°N, 110.50°WSantiago — 32.90°N, 117.10°WFriars — 32.90°N, 117.10°WFriars — 32.78°N, 117.07°WSan Diego — 32.90°N, 117.10°WSan Diego — 32.75°N, 117.17°WSubathu — 33.79°N, 74.26°ESubathu — 30.96°N, 76.98°EOlorgesailie — 1.58°S, 36.43°EKuldana — 33.25°N, 71.15°EKuldana — 33.63°N, 72.33°ECura-Mallín — 37.65°S, 71.23°WBellmunt — 42.17°N, 2.01°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Rodentia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 71 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 97 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Rodentia and its relatives

Eocene

Where Rodentia and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

1,183 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 715 sites for Rodentia, and this reads 240 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

174 references

Each of the 355 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. 162 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 content2

Picture of Rodentia

Credit
Wilfredor
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itSimplicidentata through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Bowdich 1821)