Spalax

Spalax is a genus of rodent in the family Spalacidae, subfamily Spalacinae. It is one of two extant genera in the subfamily Spalacinae, alongside Nannospalax.

Spalax

GalinaGouz · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
SpalacinaePBDB
Diet
herbivore, insectivorePBDB, for Muridae
Life habit
fossorialPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 4.9 million years on record.

The record covers at least 5.09 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 6.965 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Miocene — about 1 of 68 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 8 of 68 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 59 of 68 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 68 occurrences7.0–6.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.7–6.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.5–6.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.2–6.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.0–5.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.7–5.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.5–5.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.2–5.0 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences5.0–4.7 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.5–4.2 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.2–4.0 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences4.0–3.7 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences3.5–3.2 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences3.2–3.0 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences3.0–2.7 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.5–2.2 Mya — about 5 occurrences2.2–2.0 Mya — about 5 occurrences2.0–1.7 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.7–1.5 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.5–1.2 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.2–995 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences995 ka–746 ka Mya — about 5 occurrences746 ka–498 ka Mya — about 8 occurrences498 ka–249 ka Mya — about 8 occurrences249 ka–0 Mya — about 11 occurrences5.09 Mya129 ka7.5 Mya0 Mya

68 occurrences of Spalax 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

68 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

2 formations

Dursunlu — 38.28°N, 31.91°EKhapry — 47.24°N, 39.71°E

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The named rock units Spalax has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 66 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Spalax and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Spalax and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

584 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 62 sites for Spalax, 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

28 references

Each of the 68 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. 16 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 Spalax

Credit
GalinaGouz
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Spalax leucodon · UMMZ:mammals:110416

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 itSpalacinae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Güldenstadt 1770