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Dinosgacha

Mammal

Paleoparadoxia

Paleoparadoxia was a desmostylian mammal with a heavy body and unusual skeletal proportions.

Paleoparadoxia was a desmostylian mammal with a heavy body and unusual skeletal proportions. Its appearance is often reconstructed as partly aquatic, but the bones remain the foundation for that interpretation.

Three stages. One companion.

Game artwork
AI-generated Dinosgacha game illustration of Paleoparadoxia (Paleoparadoxia tabatai), baby stage.
BabyView full size: Paleoparadoxia Baby
AI-generated Dinosgacha game illustration of Paleoparadoxia (Paleoparadoxia tabatai), juvenile stage.
JuvenileView full size: Paleoparadoxia Juvenile
AI-generated Dinosgacha game illustration of Paleoparadoxia (Paleoparadoxia tabatai), adult stage.
AdultView full size: Paleoparadoxia Adult

AI-generated, stylized game illustrations. These designs and growth stages are imaginative, not scientific reconstructions.

Paleoparadoxia at a glance

Diet
Herbivore
Its feeding anatomy is interpreted as adapted to plant food.
When it lived
Miocene
Group
Paleoparadoxiidae
Paleoparadoxiidae

Beyond the game

The real Paleoparadoxia

Paleoparadoxia was a desmostylian mammal with a heavy body and unusual skeletal proportions. Its appearance is often reconstructed as partly aquatic, but the bones remain the foundation for that interpretation.

The selected species is Paleoparadoxia tabatai. Its teeth and skeletal proportions distinguish it from Desmostylus within the wider desmostylian group.

Fossil discoveries

Japan · approximate locationCalifornia, United States · approximate locationSatiama Prevecture, Japan · approximate locationGunma, Japan · approximate locationFukushima, Japan · approximate locationGifu, Japan · approximate location
JapanCalifornia, United StatesSatiama Prevecture, JapanGunma, JapanFukushima, JapanGifu, Japan

Selected fossil records · present-day map

Map references

Paleobiology Database · R. H. Reinhart. 1959. A review of the Sirenia and Desmostylia. University of California Publications in Geological Sciences 36(1):1-146 ↗

Paleobiology Database · T. Shikama. 1966. Postcranial skeletons of Japanese Desmostylia. Palaeontological Society of Japan Special Papers 12:1-202 ↗

Paleobiology Database · K. Shimada and N. Inuzuka. 1994. Desmostylian tooth remains from the Miocene Tokigawa Group at Kuzubukuro, Saitama, Japan. Transactions and Proceedings of the Palaeontological Society of Japan 175:553-577 ↗

Paleobiology Database · Y. Hasegawa, Y. Takakuwa, and M. Nomura, T. Kurosawa, Y. Sudo, Y. Takayama. 2000. On occurrence of Desmostylian fossils from the Upper part of the Niwaya Formation, Tomioka Group (Middle Miocene), Yoshii town, Gunma Prefecture, Japan. Bulletin of the Gunma Museum of Natural History 4:57-66 ↗

Paleobiology Database · Y. Hasegawa and Y. Taketani. 1994. Paleoparadoxia tabatai from Yanagawa-machi, Fukushima Prefecture, Northeastern Japan. Research Report of the Fukushima Museum 30:1-69 ↗

Paleobiology Database · T. Shikama. 1966. Postcranial skeletons of Japanese Desmostylia. Palaeontological Society of Japan Special Papers 12:1-202 ↗

Map: Natural Earth, public domain. Fossil records: Paleobiology Database and linked collections and publications.

Sources & text credits

Explore the references behind this profile.

  1. Palaeontological Society of Japan: Izumi Paleoparadoxia neotype
  2. Smithsonian desmostylian skeleton study
  3. New data from the first discovered paleoparadoxiid specimen
  4. Paleobiology Database: Paleoparadoxia tabatai

Original English Dinosgacha summaries informed by the linked scientific and museum references; source publications retain their own rights.

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