Vulpes

Vulpes is a genus of the subfamily Caninae. The members of this genus are colloquially referred to as true foxes, meaning they form a proper clade. The word "fox" occurs in the common names of all species of the genus, but also appears in the common names of other canid species. True foxes are distinguished from members of the genus Canis, such as domesticated dogs, wolves, jackals and coyotes, by their smaller size (5–11 kg), longer, bushier tail, and flatter skull. They have black, triangular markings between their eyes and nose, and the tip of their tail is often a different color from the rest of their pelt. The typical lifespan for this genus is between two and four years, but can reach up to a decade.

Vulpes

菅野温泉（かんのおんせん）玄関のキタキツネP6270365.jpg : Snake Head 1995 Rüppell's_fox.jpg : HelmutBoehm Vulpes corsac 2010.JPG : 4028mdk0… · 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
Also called
foxPBDB
Sits inside
CanidaePBDB
Diet
carnivore, omnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 9.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 9.4 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 12.5 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 25 of 357 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 36 of 357 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 224 of 357 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 72 of 357 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences10–10.0 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences10.0–9.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.5–9.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.1–8.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.7–8.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.2–7.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.8–7.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.4–6.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences6.9–6.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.5–6.1 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.1–5.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences5.6–5.2 Mya — about 3 occurrences5.2–4.8 Mya — about 5 occurrences4.8–4.3 Mya — about 4 occurrences4.3–3.9 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.9–3.5 Mya — about 5 occurrences3.5–3.0 Mya — about 8 occurrences3.0–2.6 Mya — about 8 occurrences2.6–2.2 Mya — about 20 occurrences2.2–1.7 Mya — about 21 occurrences1.7–1.3 Mya — about 18 occurrences1.3–867 ka Mya — about 25 occurrences867 ka–433 ka Mya — about 37 occurrences433 ka–0 Mya — about 176 occurrences9.4 Mya11.7 ka13 Mya0 Mya

357 occurrences of Vulpes 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

357 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

39 formations

Ash Hollow — 40.50°N, 100.50°WAsh Hollow — 41.30°N, 101.89°WAsh Hollow — 41.40°N, 102.40°WKingsdown — 37.04°N, 100.48°WKingsdown — 37.20°N, 100.30°WVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°EChamita — 36.50°N, 107.00°WChamita — 36.09°N, 106.05°W"unnamed sandstone" — 33.90°N, 117.00°WNubia — 22.50°N, 30.75°EVogel River Series — 3.22°S, 35.20°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°E'Ubeidiya — 32.68°N, 35.57°EUnterer Travertin — 50.98°N, 11.31°EOgallala — 36.70°N, 101.40°WPanaca — 37.80°N, 114.30°WBedrock Spring — 34.80°N, 117.00°WBanta Shut-In — 29.27°N, 103.05°WBig Sandy — 34.70°N, 113.40°WPalm Spring — 32.90°N, 117.10°WTurlock Lake — 37.06°N, 120.20°WAmerican Falls Lake Bed E — 42.80°N, 112.90°WFloral — 52.20°N, 106.70°WGubik — 70.50°N, 153.50°WMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°EPlatanochori — 40.57°N, 23.47°EYuanmou — 24.87°N, 100.94°E

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The named rock units Vulpes has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 15 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 304 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Vulpes and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Vulpes and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

2,493 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 330 sites for Vulpes, 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

214 references

Each of the 357 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. 202 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 content3

Picture of Vulpes

Credit
菅野温泉（かんのおんせん）玄関のキタキツネP6270365.jpg : Snake Head 1995 Rüppell's_fox.jpg : HelmutBoehm Vulpes corsac 2010.JPG : 4028mdk0…
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Vulpes vulpes · NMV:Mammalogy:C25075

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itCanidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Frisch 1775)