Eryops

Eryops is a genus of extinct, amphibious temnospondyls. It contains the type species Eryops megacephalus, the fossils of which are found mainly in early Permian deposits of the Texas Red Beds, and Eryops grandis from New Mexico. Fossils have also been found in late Carboniferous rocks from New Mexico and early Permian deposits of Oklahoma, Utah, the Pittsburgh tri-state region, and Prince Edward Island. Several complete skeletons of Eryops have been found in lower Permian rocks, but skull bones and teeth are its most common fossils.

Eryops

jonathan Chen · 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
Sits inside
EryopinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Temnospondyli
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB, for Temnospondyli
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Temnospondyli
Environment
brackish,freshwater,terrestrialPBDB, for Tetrapoda
Length
2 mWikidata
Mass
90 kgWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 20 million years on record.

The record covers at least 303.7 Mya to 283.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 323.4 Mya to 251.902 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 6 of 88 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 82 of 88 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 88 occurrences325–322 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences322–320 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences320–317 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences317–315 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences315–312 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences312–310 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences310–307 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences307–305 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences305–303 Mya — about 2 occurrences303–300 Mya — about 2 occurrences300–298 Mya — about 4 occurrences298–295 Mya — about 6 occurrences295–293 Mya — about 8 occurrences293–290 Mya — about 10 occurrences290–288 Mya — about 11 occurrences288–285 Mya — about 11 occurrences285–283 Mya — about 9 occurrences283–280 Mya — about 7 occurrences280–278 Mya — about 7 occurrences278–275 Mya — about 7 occurrences275–273 Mya — about 2 occurrences273–270 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences270–268 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences268–265 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences265–263 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences263–260 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences260–258 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences258–255 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences255–253 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences253–250 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences303.7 Mya283.3 Mya325 Mya250 Mya

88 occurrences of Eryops 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

88 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

29 formations

Arroyo — 33.77°N, 99.22°WArroyo — 33.76°N, 99.14°WArroyo — 33.70°N, 99.27°WArroyo — 33.59°N, 99.26°WBelle Plains — 33.74°N, 98.90°WBelle Plains — 33.69°N, 99.02°WBelle Plains — 33.87°N, 98.84°WWaggoner Ranch — 33.82°N, 98.69°WWaggoner Ranch — 33.73°N, 99.09°WWaggoner Ranch — 33.76°N, 99.14°WAdmiral — 33.62°N, 98.86°WAdmiral — 33.60°N, 98.63°WAdmiral — 33.82°N, 98.69°WArcher City — 33.34°N, 98.39°WArcher City — 33.47°N, 98.76°WArcher City — 33.58°N, 98.65°WArcher City — 33.45°N, 98.78°WArcher City — 33.67°N, 98.69°WPutnam — 33.60°N, 98.63°WVale — 33.76°N, 99.55°WVale — 33.60°N, 99.25°WVale — 32.13°N, 99.75°WVale — 32.23°N, 99.83°WVale — 33.67°N, 99.78°WCutler — 37.17°N, 109.85°WCutler — 37.03°N, 110.06°WCutler — 38.01°N, 108.04°WCutler — 36.16°N, 106.65°WWellington — 36.16°N, 97.34°WWellington — 36.74°N, 97.42°WWellington — 36.35°N, 97.43°WEl Cobre Canyon — 36.05°N, 106.05°WEl Cobre Canyon — 36.14°N, 106.62°WAbo/Cutler — 35.72°N, 106.78°WAbo/Cutler — 36.18°N, 106.67°WAbo/Cutler — 36.16°N, 106.64°WGarber — 36.77°N, 97.77°WGarber — 34.30°N, 98.60°WGarber — 36.66°N, 97.69°WPetrolia — 33.69°N, 99.02°WPetrolia — 33.64°N, 98.90°WNocona — 33.68°N, 98.70°WNocona — 33.83°N, 98.09°WArroyo del Agua — 36.12°N, 106.66°WArroyo del Agua — 36.12°N, 106.64°WAbo — 35.77°N, 106.69°WAbo — 34.64°N, 107.18°WGarber Sandstone — 34.58°N, 98.85°WGarber Sandstone — 34.53°N, 98.89°WAda — 34.93°N, 96.70°WBead Mountain — 34.13°N, 98.62°WGreene — 39.73°N, 80.48°WLueders — 33.78°N, 99.14°WMeisenheim — 49.63°N, 7.83°ERed Knob — 40.41°N, 79.78°WSangre de Cristo — 34.64°N, 107.18°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Eryops has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Eryops and its relatives

Permian

Where Eryops and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

240 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 74 sites for Eryops, 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

32 references

Each of the 88 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. 20 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 content3

Picture of Eryops

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

Photogrammetry

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Eryops megacephalus · MNHN:F:1957-6

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itEryopinae through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cope 1877