Atoposauridae

Atoposauridae is an extinct family of neosuchian crocodyliforms, known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous of Eurasia. Characterised by their small size and their heterodont dentition, they are thought to have lived in terrestrial and semi-aquatic environments, and to have consumed small prey such as fish, insects and mammals. The oldest records of the group are known from the Middle Jurassic of Britain. The majority of the family are known from Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous deposits in France, Portugal, and Bavaria in southern Germany. The discovery of the genus Aprosuchus, however, extends the duration of the lineage to the end of the Cretaceous in Europe.

Atoposauridae

Ghedoghedo · 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
NeosuchiaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Pseudosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mesoeucrocodylia

Time the record covers

At least 93 million years on record.

The record covers at least 165.3 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 168.6 Mya to 66 Mya.

Middle Jurassic — about 18 of 105 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 29 of 105 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 42 of 105 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 16 of 105 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 105 occurrences171–167 Mya — about 7 occurrences167–164 Mya — about 11 occurrences160–156 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences156–153 Mya — about 3 occurrences153–149 Mya — about 12 occurrences149–146 Mya — about 8 occurrences146–142 Mya — about 10 occurrences142–139 Mya — about 9 occurrences139–135 Mya — about 2 occurrences135–132 Mya — about 1 occurrence132–128 Mya — about 2 occurrences128–124 Mya — about 8 occurrences124–121 Mya — about 16 occurrences121–117 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences103–100 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences100–96 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences96–92 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences82–78 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences78–75 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences75–71 Mya — about 3 occurrences71–68 Mya — about 7 occurrences68–64 Mya — about 3 occurrences165.3 Mya72.2 Mya171 Mya64 Mya

105 occurrences of Atoposauridae on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. 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

105 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

35 formations

Isalo IIIb — 16.55°S, 46.98°EEl Castellar — 40.65°N, 0.89°WEl Castellar — 40.67°N, 0.67°WEl Castellar — 40.58°N, 0.69°WEl Castellar — 40.62°N, 0.84°WEl Castellar — 40.46°N, 0.74°WEl Castellar — 40.44°N, 0.73°WLourinhã — 39.85°N, 8.62°WLourinhã — 39.22°N, 9.34°WKsar Metlili — 32.70°N, 3.22°WDensuș-Ciula — 45.60°N, 22.85°ELulworth — 50.60°N, 1.97°WLulworth — 50.58°N, 1.95°WCamarillas — 40.65°N, 0.88°WCamarillas — 40.66°N, 0.86°WCamarillas — 40.22°N, 1.89°WLa Huérguina — 40.06°N, 1.88°WLa Huérguina — 40.22°N, 1.98°WLa Huérguina — 40.12°N, 1.97°WSao Khua — 16.89°N, 104.08°ESao Khua — 11.56°N, 102.59°ESao Khua — 17.07°N, 104.16°ESolnhofen — 48.90°N, 11.11°ESolnhofen — 48.90°N, 11.18°EPhu Kradung — 16.27°N, 104.43°EPhu Kradung — 16.98°N, 102.55°EArcillas de Morella — 40.49°N, 0.42°EArcillas de Morella — 40.62°N, 0.10°WSînpetru — 45.53°N, 22.91°EPui Beds — 45.49°N, 23.09°EForest Marble — 51.87°N, 1.27°WBlesa — 40.95°N, 0.77°WArtoles — 40.82°N, 0.28°WAlcobaça — 39.70°N, 8.80°WSüntel — 51.90°N, 10.48°EQigu — 43.55°N, 87.26°EWessex — 50.64°N, 1.41°WVillanueva de Huerva — 41.34°N, 1.04°WWadhurst Clay — 50.86°N, 0.44°ERabekke — 55.05°N, 14.80°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Atoposauridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 11 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 16 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Atoposauridae and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Atoposauridae and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

973 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 97 sites for Atoposauridae, 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

50 references

Each of the 105 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. 38 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 Atoposauridae

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Atoposauridae indet. · geal:ml:ML2631

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 itNeosuchia through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Gervais 1871)