Captorhinus

Captorhinus is an extinct genus of captorhinid reptiles that lived during the Permian period. Its remains are known from North America and possibly South America. It is known from mummified specimens preserving its anatomy in exceptionally high detail.

Captorhinus

Didier Descouens · 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
CaptorhinidaePBDB
Diet
insectivore, herbivorePBDB, for Captorhinidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Captorhinidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Captorhinidae
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Captorhinidae

Time the record covers

At least 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 283.3 Mya to 259.857 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 298.9 Mya to 251.902 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 0 of 46 occurrencesPermian — about 46 of 46 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 46 occurrences300–298 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences298–297 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences297–295 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences295–293 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences293–292 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences292–290 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences290–288 Mya — about 3 occurrences288–287 Mya — about 3 occurrences287–285 Mya — about 3 occurrences285–284 Mya — about 3 occurrences284–282 Mya — about 5 occurrences282–280 Mya — about 6 occurrences280–279 Mya — about 6 occurrences279–277 Mya — about 6 occurrences277–275 Mya — about 6 occurrences275–274 Mya — about 3 occurrences274–272 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences272–271 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences271–269 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences269–267 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences267–266 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences266–264 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences264–262 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences262–261 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences261–259 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences259–257 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences257–256 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences256–254 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences254–253 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences253–251 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences283.3 Mya259.857 Mya299.8 Mya251 Mya

46 occurrences of Captorhinus 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

46 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

10 formations

Arroyo — 33.80°N, 99.24°WArroyo — 33.76°N, 99.14°WArroyo — 33.71°N, 99.31°WArroyo — 33.59°N, 99.26°WArroyo — 33.75°N, 99.32°WWaggoner Ranch — 33.73°N, 99.09°WWaggoner Ranch — 34.01°N, 98.97°WWaggoner Ranch — 34.01°N, 98.92°WVale — 33.68°N, 99.58°WVale — 32.13°N, 99.75°WVale — 32.23°N, 99.83°WWellington — 36.74°N, 97.42°WWellington — 36.16°N, 97.34°WWellington — 36.30°N, 97.30°WGarber Sandstone — 34.53°N, 98.89°WGarber Sandstone — 34.58°N, 98.85°WLueders — 33.75°N, 99.12°WLueders — 33.75°N, 99.15°WHennessey — 34.19°N, 98.79°WPetrolia — 33.67°N, 98.97°WMadumabisa Mudstone — 10.83°S, 33.17°EGarber — 36.66°N, 97.69°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Captorhinus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 6 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Captorhinus and its relatives

Permian

Where Captorhinus and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

166 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 20 sites for Captorhinus, 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

24 references

Each of the 46 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. 12 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 Captorhinus

Credit
Didier Descouens
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
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
Captorhinus sp. · omnh:vp:73281a

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 itCaptorhinidae through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cope 1896