Diplodocidae

Diplodocids, or members of the family Diplodocidae, are a group of sauropod dinosaurs. The family includes some of the longest creatures ever to walk the Earth, including Diplodocus and Supersaurus, some of which may have reached lengths of up to 42 metres (138 ft).

Diplodocidae

AbstractionBlue · 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
Also called
diplodocidPBDB
Sits inside
FlagellicaudataPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Sauropoda
Life habit
ground dwelling, gregariousPBDB, for Sauropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Sauropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Sauropoda

Time the record covers

At least 32 million years on record.

The record covers at least 157.9 Mya to 125.77 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 159 Mya to 121.4 Mya.

Late Jurassic — about 264 of 270 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 6 of 270 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous160–158 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences158–157 Mya — about 1 occurrence157–156 Mya — about 1 occurrence156–155 Mya — about 6 occurrences155–153 Mya — about 23 occurrences153–152 Mya — about 25 occurrences152–151 Mya — about 32 occurrences151–149 Mya — about 32 occurrences149–148 Mya — about 32 occurrences148–147 Mya — about 33 occurrences147–145 Mya — about 33 occurrences145–144 Mya — about 27 occurrences144–143 Mya — about 20 occurrences143–142 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences142–140 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences140–139 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences139–138 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences138–136 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences136–135 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences135–134 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences134–132 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences132–131 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences131–130 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences130–128 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences128–127 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences127–126 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences126–125 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences125–123 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences123–122 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences122–121 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences157.9 Mya125.77 Mya159.8 Mya120.6 Mya

270 occurrences of Diplodocidae on record, most of them in the Late Jurassic. 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

270 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

14 formations

Morrison — 42.04°N, 106.39°WMorrison — 39.65°N, 105.19°WMorrison — 42.15°N, 105.92°WMorrison — 42.02°N, 106.05°WMorrison — 43.38°N, 108.12°WMorrison — 43.63°N, 108.20°WMorrison — 40.42°N, 109.21°WMorrison — 35.20°N, 107.13°WMorrison — 40.44°N, 109.30°WMorrison — 38.54°N, 105.22°WMorrison — 39.13°N, 108.73°WMorrison — 36.21°N, 103.63°WMorrison — 35.56°N, 106.77°WMorrison — 38.45°N, 107.40°WMorrison — 41.89°N, 106.04°WMorrison — 41.88°N, 106.06°WMorrison — 39.24°N, 109.00°WMorrison — 38.58°N, 108.40°WMorrison — 44.54°N, 107.78°WMorrison — 44.65°N, 107.82°WMorrison — 41.97°N, 106.29°WMorrison — 43.65°N, 106.78°WMorrison — 36.90°N, 102.83°WMorrison — 36.93°N, 102.97°WMorrison — 38.54°N, 106.81°WMorrison — 45.54°N, 110.62°WMorrison — 44.47°N, 103.31°WMorrison — 44.53°N, 103.83°WMorrison — 44.18°N, 103.34°WMorrison — 44.46°N, 104.73°WMorrison — 44.25°N, 104.41°WMorrison — 45.45°N, 108.10°WMorrison — 35.58°N, 106.94°WMorrison — 41.92°N, 106.36°WMorrison — 42.15°N, 105.89°WMorrison — 44.23°N, 103.38°WMorrison — 44.09°N, 106.78°WMorrison — 42.18°N, 106.32°WMorrison — 38.25°N, 110.81°WMorrison — 38.97°N, 109.32°WMorrison — 39.15°N, 108.77°WMorrison — 41.98°N, 106.15°WMorrison — 44.65°N, 107.88°WMorrison — 38.50°N, 109.00°WMorrison — 45.22°N, 108.83°WMorrison — 44.02°N, 104.24°WMorrison — 36.10°N, 110.23°WMorrison — 38.85°N, 108.48°WMorrison — 39.15°N, 108.77°WMorrison — 42.63°N, 105.44°WMorrison — 40.46°N, 108.39°WMorrison — 44.04°N, 106.42°WMorrison — 44.05°N, 107.46°WMorrison — 39.32°N, 110.69°WMorrison — 38.71°N, 109.74°WMorrison — 44.09°N, 106.87°WMorrison — 37.53°N, 103.68°WMorrison — 41.73°N, 106.27°WMorrison — 44.64°N, 108.12°WMorrison — 37.56°N, 109.20°WTendaguru — 9.71°S, 39.23°ETendaguru — 9.66°S, 39.25°ELourinhã — 39.22°N, 9.34°WLourinhã — 39.85°N, 8.62°WLourinhã — 39.25°N, 9.22°WLourinhã — 39.33°N, 9.36°WLourinhã — 39.35°N, 9.06°WToqui — 46.65°S, 72.38°WKirkwood — 33.44°S, 25.45°EFreixial — 39.09°N, 9.40°WFreixial — 39.18°N, 9.33°WKadzi — 16.27°S, 30.80°EVillar del Arzobispo — 40.12°N, 1.15°WLa Amarga — 39.48°S, 70.19°WBajada Colorada — 39.82°S, 69.67°WMulichinco — 38.50°S, 70.26°WHuérteles — 41.93°N, 2.18°WPraia da Amoreira-Porto Novo — 39.20°N, 9.34°WSüntel — 51.90°N, 10.48°E

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The named rock units Diplodocidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Diplodocidae and its relatives

Late Jurassic

Where Diplodocidae and its relatives were recorded in the Late Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

322 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 190 sites for Diplodocidae, 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

108 references

Each of the 270 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. 96 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 Diplodocidae

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

Photogrammetry

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Diplodocidae indet. · amnh:farb:33054

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 itFlagellicaudata through timeFormations of the Late JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Marsh 1884)