Dromatheriidae

Dromatheriidae is an extinct family of prozostrodontian cynodonts, closely related to mammals. Members of the family are known from the Late Triassic of India, Europe and North America. Apart from a few jaw fragments, dromatheriids are mainly known from their sectorial (flesh-slicing) postcanine teeth. The teeth were fairly typical among early prozostrodontians, as they were labiolingually compressed, with a single root and crown hosting a longitudinal row of sharp cusps. Dromatheriids in particular have a very narrow and symmetrical crown without a prominent cingulum.

A picture published with the record for Dromatheriidae. What it shows has not been checked.

Smithsonian Institution · CC0 · via Smithsonian. 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
EucynodontiaPBDB
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 227.3 Mya to 205.7 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 237 Mya to 201.4 Mya.

Middle Triassic — about 0 of 12 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 12 of 12 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 12 occurrences238–236 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences236–235 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences235–234 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences234–233 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences233–232 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences232–230 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences230–229 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences229–228 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences228–227 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences227–225 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences225–224 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences224–223 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences223–222 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences222–220 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences220–219 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences219–218 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences218–217 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences217–215 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences215–214 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences214–213 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences213–212 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences212–211 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences211–209 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences209–208 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences208–207 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences207–206 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences206–204 Mya — about 1 occurrence204–203 Mya — about 1 occurrence203–202 Mya — about 1 occurrence202–201 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences227.3 Mya205.7 Mya237.7 Mya200.7 Mya

12 occurrences of Dromatheriidae 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

12 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

5 formations

Tiki — 23.91°N, 81.33°ETiki — 23.90°N, 81.35°ETecovas — 33.45°N, 101.17°WBull Canyon — 34.98°N, 104.15°WSables de Mortinsart — 49.71°N, 5.62°EGrès à Avicula contorta — 48.62°N, 6.33°E

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The named rock units Dromatheriidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Dromatheriidae and its relatives

Late Triassic

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

Found in the same rock

176 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 11 sites for Dromatheriidae, 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

10 references

Each of the 12 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 Dromatheriidae

Source
Smithsonian
Credit
Smithsonian Institution
Licence
CC0 — this site’s default, not the record’s
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 itEucynodontia through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gill 1872