Brasilodontidae

Brasilodon is an extinct genus of small, mammal-like cynodonts that lived in what is now Brazil during the Norian age of the Late Triassic epoch, about 225.42 million years ago. While no complete skeletons have been found, the length of Brasilodon has been estimated at 20 centimetres (7.9 in). Its dentition shows that it was most likely an insectivore. The genus is monotypic, containing only the species B. quadrangularis. Brasilodon belongs to the family Brasilodontidae, whose members were some of the closest relatives of mammals, the only cynodonts alive today. Two other brasilodontid genera, Brasilitherium and Minicynodon, are now considered to be junior synonyms of Brasilodon.

Brasilodontidae

Martinelli AG, Soares MB, Schwanke C · 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
BrasilodontiaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 21 million years on record.

The record covers at least 248.6 Mya to 227.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 251.902 Mya to 205.7 Mya.

Permian — about 0 of 9 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 1 of 9 occurrencesEarly TriassicMiddle Triassic — about 1 of 9 occurrencesMiddle TriassicLate Triassic — about 7 of 9 occurrencesLate Triassic253–251 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences251–250 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences250–248 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences242–240 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences240–238 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences238–237 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences229–227 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences227–226 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences226–224 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences224–222 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences222–221 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences221–219 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences219–218 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences218–216 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences216–214 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences214–213 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences213–211 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences211–210 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences210–208 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences208–206 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences206–205 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences248.6 Mya227.3 Mya252.8 Mya204.8 Mya

9 occurrences of Brasilodontidae 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

9 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

3 formations

Caturrita — 29.63°S, 53.23°WCaturrita — 29.56°S, 53.45°WCaturrita — 29.69°S, 52.85°WSanta Maria — 29.57°S, 53.51°WPanchet — 23.63°N, 86.90°E

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

Brasilodontidae and its relatives

Late Triassic

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

Found in the same rock

22 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 6 sites for Brasilodontidae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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 9 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 Brasilodontidae

Credit
Martinelli AG, Soares MB, Schwanke C
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Brasilodontidae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itBrasilodontia through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bonaparte and Martinelli 2005