Spalacidae

The Spalacidae, or spalacids, are a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. They are native to eastern Asia, the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, and southeastern Europe. It includes the blind mole-rats, bamboo rats, mole-rats, and zokors. This family represents the oldest split in the muroid superfamily, and comprises animals adapted to a subterranean way of life. These rodents were thought to have evolved adaptations to living underground independently until recent phylogenetic studies demonstrated they form a monophyletic group. Members of the Spalacidae are often placed in the family Muridae along with all other members of the Muroidea.

Spalacidae

Uncredited · 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
MuroideaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Rodentia
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Rodentia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 2 of 104 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 68 of 104 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 9 of 104 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 18 of 104 occurrencesPleistocene28–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 3 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 5 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 5 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 5 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 5 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 4 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 3 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 3 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 3 occurrences10–9.3 Mya — about 3 occurrences9.3–8.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences8.4–7.4 Mya — about 5 occurrences7.4–6.5 Mya — about 5 occurrences6.5–5.6 Mya — about 4 occurrences5.6–4.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.6–3.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.7–2.8 Mya — about 5 occurrences2.8–1.9 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.9–928 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences928 ka–0 Mya — about 20 occurrences23.04 Mya11.7 ka27.8 Mya0 Mya

104 occurrences of Spalacidae on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

104 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

12 formations

Lower Manchar — 26.42°N, 67.83°EVihowa — 30.08°N, 70.33°EChitarwata — 30.08°N, 70.33°EHadar — 11.13°N, 40.59°EMaradah — 28.50°N, 20.00°EXiacaowan — 33.45°N, 118.20°EYuanmou — 24.87°N, 100.94°EKizilirmak — 39.37°N, 33.73°ETatrot — 30.51°N, 77.26°ESagantole — 10.52°N, 40.47°EAdu-Asa — 10.32°N, 40.25°EKeramaria — 38.31°N, 26.13°E

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The named rock units Spalacidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 51 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Spalacidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Spalacidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

879 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 79 sites for Spalacidae, 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

44 references

Each of the 104 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. 32 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 Spalacidae

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

No 3D scan of Spalacidae was found in Sketchfab.

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 itMuroidea through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1821