PBDB Taxon

Basic info	Taxonomic history	Classification	Included Taxa
Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Castor (beaver)

Mammalia - Rodentia - Castoridae

Taxonomy

Castor was named by Linnaeus (1758). It is extant.

It was assigned to Glires by Linnaeus (1758); to Palmipeda by Illiger (1811); to Castorina by Gray (1825); to Rodentia by Leidy (1860); to Castorinae by Rybczynski (2007); and to Castoridae by Hay (1902), Wilson (1967), Kurten and Anderson (1980), Shoshani et al. (1989), McKenna and Bell (1997), Albright et al. (2019).

Species

C. (Eucastor), C. anderssoni, C. californicus (syn. C. accessor), C. canadensis, C. fiber (syn. C. praefiber, C. plicidens), C. jaegeri, C. peninsulatus, C. veterior

Species lacking formal opinion data

C. issiodorensis

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1758	Castor Linnaeus p. 58
1811	Castor Illiger p. 89
1825	Castor Gray p. 341
1860	Castor Leidy p. 111
1902	Castor Hay p. 721
1967	Castor Wilson p. 209
1980	Castor Kurten and Anderson p. 237
1989	Castor Shoshani et al. p. 436
1997	Castor McKenna and Bell
2007	Castor Rybczynski p. 7
2019	Castor Albright et al. p. 158

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
—	Eugnathostomata
—	Teleostomi	(Bonaparte 1836)
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
subclass	Synapsida
—	Therapsida	()
infraorder	Cynodontia	()

Rank	Name	Author
—	Mammaliamorpha
—	Mammaliaformes
class	Mammalia
—	Cladotheria
—	Zatheria
subclass	Tribosphenida	()
subclass	Theria
—	Eutheria	()
—	Placentalia
—	Boreoeutheria
—	Euarchontoglires	Murphy et al. 2001
—	Gliriformes	Wyss and Meng 1996
—	Glires	()
—	Simplicidentata	()
order	Rodentia	Bowdich 1821
infraorder	Castorimorpha
superfamily	Castoroidea	Gray 1821
family	Castoridae
subfamily	Castorinae
genus	Castor

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. Castor Linnaeus 1758 [beaver]

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Subg. †Castor (Eucastor) Leidy 1858

†Castor anderssoni Schlosser 1924

†Castor californicus Kellogg 1911

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Invalid names: Castor accessor Hay 1927 [synonym]

Castor canadensis Kuhl 1820 [American beaver]

Castor fiber Linnaeus 1758 [Eurasian beaver]

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Invalid names: Castor plicidens Major 1874 [synonym], Castor praefiber Deperet 1890 [synonym]

†Castor jaegeri Kaup 1839

†Castor peninsulatus Cope 1881

†Castor veterior Lankester 1864

Diagnosis

No diagnoses are available

Measurements

part	N	mean

Composition:

phosphaticsubp

Environment:

terrestrialsubc

Locomotion:

actively mobilep

Life habit:

amphibiousg

Diet:

browserf

Reproduction:

viviparoussubc

Comments:

"an expert swimmer"g

Created:

2011-05-12 18:11:16

Modified:

2011-05-12 03:11:16

Source: g = genus, f = family, subc = subclass, subp = subphylum, p = phylum

References: Carroll 1988, Dunn and Rasmussen 2007, Kiessling 2004, Ji et al. 2002, Lillegraven 1979, Nowak 1991

Age range

Maximum range based only on fossils: base of the Turolian to the top of the Holocene or 8.72500 to 0.00000 Ma
Minimum age of oldest fossil (stem group age): 7.246 Ma

Collections (200 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Oldest occurrences
Tortonian	11.63 - 7.246	Moldova	Castor fiber (75802 75803)
Tortonian	11.63 - 7.246	Ukraine (Odessa)	Castor fiber (75798)
Hemphillian	9.4 - 4.7	USA (Oregon)	Castor californicus (19015) Castor indet. (237928 237930) Castor sp., Castor californicus (18970 19116)
Hemphillian	9.4 - 4.7	USA (Washington)	Castor sp. (232055)
Hemphillian	9.4 - 4.7	USA (Nebraska)	Castor californicus (18323)
Late/Upper Hemphillian	9.4 - 4.7	USA (Nebraska)	Castor californicus (18126 18247 18359)
Turolian	8.725 - 5.09	Russian Federation (Rostovskaya Oblast')	Castor sp. (174455)
Turolian	8.725 - 5.09	Spain (Andalusia)	Castor sp. (36108)
Early/Lower Pliocene	5.333 - 3.6	Kazakhstan	Castor fiber (76289)
Early/Lower Pliocene	5.333 - 3.6	China (Nei Mongol)	Castor anderssoni (75300)
Early/Lower Pliocene	5.333 - 3.6	Greece (Dodecannese)	Castor fiber (184242)
Pliocene	5.333 - 2.58	China	Sinocastor anderssoni (13485)
Pliocene	5.333 - 2.58	Ukraine (Odessa)	Castor fiber (76551)
Pliocene	5.333 - 2.58	Russian Federation (Rostovskaya Oblast')	Castor sp. (39409)
Pliocene	5.333 - 2.58	Romania	Castor praefiber (40113) Castor sp. (40130)
Pliocene	5.333 - 2.58	France (Languedoc-Roussillon Region)	Castor praefiber (36104)
Pliocene	5.333 - 2.58	USA (Idaho)	Castor californicus (181255 189134)
Pliocene	5.333 - 2.58	Romania (Moldova)	Castor praefiber (39622)
Pliocene	5.333 - 2.58	Ukraine	Castor fiber (76503)
Pliocene - Pleistocene	5.333 - 0.0117	Spain (Andalucia)	Castor sp. (35038)