Anaschisma

Anaschisma is an extinct genus of large temnospondyls. These animals were part of the family called Metoposauridae, which filled the crocodile-like predatory niches in the late Triassic. It had a large skull about 62 centimetres (24 in) long, and possibly reached 3 metres (9.8 ft) long. It was an ambush hunter, snapping up anything small enough to fit in its huge jaws. It was very common during the Late Triassic in what is now the American Southwest.

Anaschisma

Lawrence from San Francisco, USA · 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
Sits inside
MetoposauridaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Temnospondyli
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB, for Temnospondyli
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Temnospondyli
Environment
brackish,freshwater,terrestrialPBDB, for Tetrapoda

Time the record covers

At least 21 million years on record.

The record covers at least 227.3 Mya to 205.7 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 237 Mya to 201.4 Mya.

Middle Triassic — about 0 of 90 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 90 of 90 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 90 occurrences238–236 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences236–235 Mya — about 2 occurrences235–234 Mya — about 2 occurrences234–233 Mya — about 2 occurrences233–232 Mya — about 2 occurrences232–230 Mya — about 2 occurrences230–229 Mya — about 2 occurrences229–228 Mya — about 2 occurrences228–227 Mya — about 3 occurrences227–225 Mya — about 4 occurrences225–224 Mya — about 4 occurrences224–223 Mya — about 4 occurrences223–222 Mya — about 4 occurrences222–220 Mya — about 4 occurrences220–219 Mya — about 4 occurrences219–218 Mya — about 4 occurrences218–217 Mya — about 4 occurrences217–215 Mya — about 4 occurrences215–214 Mya — about 4 occurrences214–213 Mya — about 4 occurrences213–212 Mya — about 4 occurrences212–211 Mya — about 4 occurrences211–209 Mya — about 4 occurrences209–208 Mya — about 4 occurrences208–207 Mya — about 4 occurrences207–206 Mya — about 4 occurrences206–204 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences204–203 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences203–202 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences202–201 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences227.3 Mya205.7 Mya237.7 Mya200.7 Mya

90 occurrences of Anaschisma on record, most of them in the Late Triassic. 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

90 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

9 formations

Chinle — 34.51°N, 109.36°WChinle — 34.44°N, 109.46°WChinle — 34.87°N, 109.80°WChinle — 35.12°N, 110.55°WChinle — 36.33°N, 106.47°WChinle — 34.83°N, 109.81°WChinle — 35.38°N, 109.37°WChinle — 35.03°N, 109.85°WChinle — 34.68°N, 109.58°WChinle — 34.53°N, 109.32°WChinle — 35.02°N, 109.89°WChinle — 34.92°N, 109.91°WChinle — 34.82°N, 109.90°WChinle — 34.94°N, 109.74°WChinle — 35.33°N, 109.17°WChinle — 35.63°N, 109.10°WChinle — 36.00°N, 109.45°WChinle — 36.42°N, 109.33°WChinle — 36.40°N, 109.20°WChinle — 36.35°N, 109.47°WChinle — 36.45°N, 109.57°WChinle — 34.40°N, 109.60°WChinle — 36.09°N, 111.36°WChinle — 35.87°N, 111.33°WChinle — 35.87°N, 111.37°WChinle — 35.11°N, 109.83°WPopo Agie — 43.17°N, 109.18°WPopo Agie — 43.10°N, 109.15°WPopo Agie — 43.70°N, 108.68°WPopo Agie — 42.70°N, 108.67°WTecovas — 33.52°N, 101.14°WTecovas — 35.38°N, 102.16°WTecovas — 33.42°N, 101.13°WTecovas — 33.58°N, 101.17°WBluewater Creek — 35.42°N, 108.49°WBluewater Creek — 35.43°N, 108.57°WColorado City — 32.18°N, 101.25°WColorado City — 32.17°N, 101.25°WGarita Creek — 35.24°N, 105.79°WBaldy Hill — 36.91°N, 102.45°WNew Oxford — 40.05°N, 76.77°WPetrified Forest — 36.21°N, 106.62°W

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The named rock units Anaschisma has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Anaschisma and its relatives

Late Triassic

Where Anaschisma and its relatives were recorded in the Late Triassic.

Found in the same rock

172 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 85 sites for Anaschisma, 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

21 references

Each of the 90 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. 9 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 Anaschisma

Credit
Lawrence from San Francisco, USA
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
No Copyright (US)
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Anaschisma sp. · pefo:50050

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 itMetoposauridae through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Branson 1905