Dorsetisauridae

Dorsetisaurus purbeckensis Hoffstetter, 1967, a relative of Dorsetisauridae — not Dorsetisauridae itself

Not Dorsetisauridae. This is Dorsetisaurus purbeckensis Hoffstetter, 1967, a relative — both are Dorsetisauridae.

via GBIF · CC0 · via GBIF. 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
AnguioideaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 45 million years on record.

The record covers at least 165.3 Mya to 119.57 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 168.2 Mya to 110.1 Mya.

Middle Jurassic — about 1 of 18 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 8 of 18 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 9 of 18 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous169–167 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences167–165 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences165–163 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences155–153 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences153–151 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences151–149 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences149–147 Mya — about 2 occurrences147–145 Mya — about 2 occurrences145–143 Mya — about 2 occurrences143–141 Mya — about 1 occurrence141–139 Mya — about 4 occurrences139–137 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences137–135 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences135–133 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences133–131 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences131–129 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences129–127 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences127–125 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences125–123 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences123–121 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences121–119 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences119–117 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences117–115 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences115–113 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences113–111 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences111–109 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences165.3 Mya119.57 Mya169 Mya109 Mya

18 occurrences of Dorsetisauridae on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. 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

18 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

7 formations

Morrison — 41.89°N, 106.00°WMorrison — 40.50°N, 109.17°WMorrison — 39.15°N, 108.77°WMorrison — 40.30°N, 108.57°WLulworth — 50.60°N, 1.97°WDzunbain — 42.45°N, 102.42°EWeald Clay — 50.96°N, 0.12°WAlcobaça — 39.70°N, 8.80°WBalabansai — 40.90°N, 73.49°ETsagaantsav — 45.30°N, 101.62°E

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

Dorsetisauridae and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Dorsetisauridae and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

339 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 16 sites for Dorsetisauridae, 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

14 references

Each of the 18 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. 2 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 Dorsetisaurus purbeckensis Hoffstetter, 1967

Source
GBIF
Credit
via GBIF
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Dorsetisauridae 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.

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAnguioidea through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Hoffstetter 1967