Thryonomys

The genus Thryonomys, also known as cane rats or grasscutters, is a genus of rodent found throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. It is the only extant genus in the family Thryonomyidae. They are eaten in some African countries and are a pest species on many crops. The family name comes from the Greek word thryon, meaning a "rush" or "reed" and mys meaning "mouse".

Thryonomys

Aurélia Zizo · Attribution · 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
ThryonomyidaePBDB
Diet
grazerPBDB, for Thryonomyidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Thryonomyidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 7.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 7.246 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 3 of 47 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 6 of 47 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 26 of 47 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 12 of 47 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.7–9.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.3–8.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.9–8.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.5–8.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.1–7.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.7–7.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.9–6.5 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences6.5–6.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences6.1–5.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences5.7–5.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences5.3–4.9 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.9–4.4 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.4–4.0 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences3.6–3.2 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences3.2–2.8 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences2.8–2.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.4–2.0 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.0–1.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.6–1.2 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.2–809 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences809 ka–404 ka Mya — about 5 occurrences404 ka–0 Mya — about 18 occurrences7.246 Mya11.7 ka12.1 Mya0 Mya

47 occurrences of Thryonomys 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

47 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

15 formations

Koobi Fora — 3.90°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 4.18°N, 36.42°EWehaietu — 10.90°N, 40.48°EWehaietu — 10.63°N, 40.54°EShungura — 5.06°N, 36.03°ENachukui — 4.25°N, 35.79°ENachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EKapthurin — 0.50°N, 36.00°EVogel River Series — 3.22°S, 35.21°ESagantole — 10.50°N, 40.58°ENawata and Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EFejej — 5.00°N, 37.00°ENubia — 16.25°N, 33.75°EWembere-Manonga — 3.88°S, 33.72°ENawata or Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EBouri — 10.00°N, 40.50°EAdu-Asa — 10.32°N, 40.25°ENakali — 1.18°N, 36.37°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Thryonomys has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 20 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Thryonomys and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Thryonomys and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

629 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 43 sites for Thryonomys, 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

35 references

Each of the 47 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. 23 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 Thryonomys

Credit
Aurélia Zizo
Licence
Attribution
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
Thryonomys sp. · YPM:VZ:YPM MAM 014532

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 itThryonomyidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Fitzinger 1867