Aspidosaurus

Aspidosaurus is an extinct genus of dissorophoid temnospondyl within the family Dissorophidae.

Aspidosaurus

Schoch, R. R. · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
AspidosaurinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Olsoniformes
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Olsoniformes
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 298.9 Mya to 277.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 303.7 Mya to 266.9 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 3 of 12 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 9 of 12 occurrencesPermian304–303 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences303–302 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences302–301 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences301–299 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences299–298 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences298–297 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences297–296 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences296–294 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences294–293 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences293–292 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences292–290 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences290–289 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences289–288 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences288–287 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences287–285 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences285–284 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences284–283 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences283–281 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences281–280 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences280–279 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences279–278 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences278–276 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences276–275 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences275–274 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences274–273 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences273–271 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences271–270 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences270–269 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences269–267 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences267–266 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences298.9 Mya277.3 Mya304.4 Mya266.2 Mya

12 occurrences of Aspidosaurus on record, most of them in the Permian. 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

12 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

8 formations

Belle Plains — 33.74°N, 98.90°WArroyo — 33.77°N, 99.22°WAdmiral — 33.62°N, 98.86°WCutler — 36.31°N, 106.35°WLueders — 33.75°N, 99.15°WAda — 34.93°N, 96.70°WOnaga — 40.48°N, 95.73°WAbo/Cutler — 36.16°N, 106.64°W

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The named rock units Aspidosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Aspidosaurus and its relatives

Permian

Where Aspidosaurus and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

134 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 9 sites for Aspidosaurus, 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

7 references

Each of the 12 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. 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 content1

Picture of Aspidosaurus

Credit
Schoch, R. R.
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Aspidosaurus was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itAspidosaurinae through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Broili 1904