Azendohsauridae

Azendohsauridae is a family of allokotosaurian archosauromorphs that lived during the Middle to Late Triassic period, minimally between 242-215 million years ago. The family was originally named solely for the eponymous Azendohsaurus, marking out its distinctiveness from other allokotosaurs, but as of 2022 the family now includes four other genera: the basal genus Pamelaria, the large horned herbivore Shringasaurus, and two carnivorous genera grouped into the subfamily-level subclade Malerisaurinae, Malerisaurus and Puercosuchus, and potentially also the dubious genus Otischalkia. Most fossils of azendohsaurids have a Gondwanan distribution, with multiple species known from India, across Morocco and Madagascar in Africa and in Brazil in South America, although fossils of malerisaurine azendohsaurids have also been found in the Southwestern United States of North America.

Azendohsauridae

Mario Lanzas · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
AllokotosauriaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Diapsida

Time the record covers

At least 14 million years on record.

The record covers at least 241.464 Mya to 227.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 247 Mya to 205.7 Mya.

Early Triassic — about 0 of 6 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 1 of 6 occurrencesMiddle TriassicLate Triassic — about 5 of 6 occurrencesLate Triassic248–246 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences246–245 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences245–244 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences244–242 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences242–241 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences241–239 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences239–238 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences238–236 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences236–235 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences235–234 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences234–232 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences232–231 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences231–229 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences229–228 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences228–226 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences226–225 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences225–223 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences223–222 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences222–221 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences221–219 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences219–218 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences218–216 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences216–215 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences215–213 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences213–212 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences212–211 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences211–209 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences209–208 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences208–206 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences206–205 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences241.464 Mya227.3 Mya247.8 Mya204.9 Mya

6 occurrences of Azendohsauridae 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

6 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

5 formations

Chinle — 35.02°N, 109.78°WChinle — 34.95°N, 109.76°WTimezgadiouine — 31.03°N, 9.01°WIsalo II — 22.42°S, 45.25°EDenwa — 22.62°N, 78.48°EGarita Creek — 35.24°N, 105.79°W

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

Azendohsauridae and its relatives

Late Triassic

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

Found in the same rock

33 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 6 sites for Azendohsauridae, 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

5 references

Each of the 6 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 Azendohsauridae

Credit
Mario Lanzas
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Azendohsauridae 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 itAllokotosauria through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Nesbitt et al. 2015