Diadectidae

Diadectidae is an extinct family of early tetrapods that lived in what is now North America and Europe during the Late Carboniferous and Early Permian, and in Asia during the Late Permian. They were the first herbivorous tetrapods, and also the first fully terrestrial animals to attain large sizes. Footprints indicate that diadectids walked with an erect posture.

Diadectidae

Ghedoghedo · Public Domain · 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
DiadectomorphaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
brackish,freshwater,terrestrialPBDB, for Tetrapoda

Time the record covers

At least 43 million years on record.

The record covers at least 303.7 Mya to 259.857 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 306 Mya to 251.902 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 8 of 89 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 81 of 89 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 89 occurrences307–305 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences305–303 Mya — about 2 occurrences303–301 Mya — about 2 occurrences301–300 Mya — about 2 occurrences300–298 Mya — about 5 occurrences298–296 Mya — about 6 occurrences296–294 Mya — about 6 occurrences294–292 Mya — about 6 occurrences292–290 Mya — about 6 occurrences290–288 Mya — about 9 occurrences288–286 Mya — about 9 occurrences286–285 Mya — about 8 occurrences285–283 Mya — about 6 occurrences283–281 Mya — about 4 occurrences281–279 Mya — about 4 occurrences279–277 Mya — about 4 occurrences277–275 Mya — about 4 occurrences275–273 Mya — about 2 occurrences273–271 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences271–270 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences270–268 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences268–266 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences266–264 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences264–262 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences262–260 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences260–258 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences258–256 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences256–255 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences255–253 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences253–251 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences303.7 Mya259.857 Mya307 Mya251 Mya

89 occurrences of Diadectidae 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

89 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

30 formations

Arroyo — 33.77°N, 99.22°WArroyo — 33.70°N, 99.27°WArroyo — 33.59°N, 99.26°WArroyo — 33.73°N, 99.36°WArroyo — 33.97°N, 99.20°WBelle Plains — 33.74°N, 98.90°WBelle Plains — 33.87°N, 98.84°WBelle Plains — 33.69°N, 99.02°WWaggoner Ranch — 33.82°N, 98.69°WWaggoner Ranch — 33.76°N, 99.14°WAdmiral — 33.62°N, 98.86°WAdmiral — 33.82°N, 98.69°WCutler — 37.03°N, 110.06°WCutler — 38.00°N, 108.02°WCutler — 36.31°N, 106.35°WCutler — 36.16°N, 106.65°WAbo/Cutler — 35.72°N, 106.78°WAbo/Cutler — 36.28°N, 106.36°WAbo/Cutler — 36.18°N, 106.67°WAbo/Cutler — 36.16°N, 106.64°WAbo/Cutler — 34.17°N, 106.75°WVale — 32.45°N, 99.73°WVale — 32.13°N, 99.75°WVale — 32.23°N, 99.83°WVale — 33.67°N, 99.78°WTambach — 50.81°N, 10.62°EEl Cobre Canyon — 36.14°N, 106.62°WAbo — 35.77°N, 106.69°WAbo — 34.64°N, 107.18°WAbo — 38.76°N, 107.05°WClyde — 33.77°N, 99.10°WPutnam — 33.60°N, 98.63°WPetrolia — 33.69°N, 99.02°WPetrolia — 33.64°N, 98.90°WNocona — 33.68°N, 98.70°WNocona — 33.72°N, 98.34°WArroyo del Agua — 36.12°N, 106.66°WArroyo del Agua — 36.12°N, 106.64°WSangre de Cristo — 38.47°N, 105.86°WSangre de Cristo — 34.64°N, 107.18°WArcher City — 33.58°N, 98.65°WArcher City — 33.67°N, 98.69°WGarber — 34.30°N, 98.60°WGarber — 36.66°N, 97.69°WKildare Capes — 46.09°N, 62.92°WAda — 34.93°N, 96.70°WLueders — 33.78°N, 99.14°WShangshihezi — 34.92°N, 112.37°EEskridge — 40.15°N, 95.90°WGreene — 39.72°N, 80.90°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Diadectidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 6 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 6 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Diadectidae and its relatives

Permian

Where Diadectidae and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

253 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 66 sites for Diadectidae, 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

37 references

Each of the 89 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. 25 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 content1

Picture of Diadectidae

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itDiadectomorpha through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Cope 1880)