🦕 Prehistoric World Map

Ceratogaulus fossil map

Where fossils of Ceratogaulus have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 15 million years ago and on today’s map.

Dots are fossil collections recorded in the Paleobiology Database. The “then” view moves today’s fossil sites back to their positions 15 million years ago (the time slice nearest the median age of the fossils) using the Merdith et al. (2021) plate model; positions are approximate. Open on the timeline map →

Ceratogaulus
Image: Ryan Somma, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
GroupEarly mammals
Lived23.04–4.7 million years ago (Aquitanian to Zanclean)
PeriodsNeogene
FamilyMylagaulidae
Named byMatthew 1902
Fossil records44 occurrences at 14 locations (PBDB)
Found inUnited States
Rock formationsValentine, Ash Hollow, Goliad, txn:41468, Ogallala, Tesuque

About Ceratogaulus

Ceratogaulus is an extinct genus of rodents, a member of the extinct fossorial (burrowing) rodent family Mylagaulidae. Ceratogaulus is one of two rodent genera with horns (along with fellow mylagaulid Mylagaulus) and is the smallest known horned mammal. Ceratogaulus lived in North America from the late Miocene to the early Pliocene epochs, 16.3 to 5.3 million years ago. Ceratogaulus (and to a lesser extent Mylagaulus) have sometimes been nicknamed "horned gophers", though they are only distantly related to true gophers.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Ceratogaulus (revision 1349266892), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Ages, family, authority and fossil records: Paleobiology Database, accessed 23 October 2026. Ages are those of the rock layers the fossils were found in. Wikidata: Q139065.

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