Erpetosuchus

Erpetosuchus is an extinct genus of pseudosuchian from the Late Triassic. The type species of Erpetosuchus is E. granti. It was first described by E. T. Newton in 1894 for remains found in northeastern Scotland, including four specimens from the latest Carnian Lossiemouth Sandstone Formation. Additional remains of Erpetosuchus have been found in the New Haven Formation of Connecticut in the eastern United States, although they were not attributed to the species E. granti. The relationship of Erpetosuchus to other archosaurs is uncertain. In 2000 and 2002, it was considered a close relative of the group Crocodylomorpha, which includes living crocodylians and many extinct relatives. However, this relationship was questioned in a 2012 analysis that found the phylogenetic placement of Erpetosuchus to be very uncertain.

Erpetosuchus

Cambridge Engraving Co., published by E. T. Newton · 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
ErpetosuchidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Pseudosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Diapsida

Time the record covers

At most 32 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 237 Mya and 205.7 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Middle Triassic — about 0 of 2 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 2 of 2 occurrencesLate Triassic238–237 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences237–235 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences235–234 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences234–233 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences233–232 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences232–231 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences231–230 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences230–229 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences229–228 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences228–227 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences227–226 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences226–225 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences225–224 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences224–222 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences222–221 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences221–220 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences220–219 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences219–218 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences218–217 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences217–216 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences216–215 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences215–214 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences214–213 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences213–212 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences212–210 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences210–209 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences209–208 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences208–207 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences207–206 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences206–205 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences237.6 Mya205.1 Mya

2 occurrences of Erpetosuchus 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

2 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

2 formations

Lossiemouth Sandstone — 57.72°N, 3.29°WNew Haven — 41.56°N, 72.91°W

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

Erpetosuchus and its relatives

Late Triassic

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

Found in the same rock

9 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 2 sites for Erpetosuchus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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

2 references

Each of the 2 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 content2

Picture of Erpetosuchus

Credit
Cambridge Engraving Co., published by E. T. Newton
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Erpetosuchus sp. · amnh:farb:29300

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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 itErpetosuchidae through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Newton 1894