Heterodontosauridae

Heterodontosauridae is a family of ornithischian dinosaurs that were likely among the most basal (primitive) members of the group. Their phylogenetic placement is uncertain but they are most commonly found outside of the group Genasauria. Although their fossils are relatively rare and their group small in numbers, they have been found on all continents except Australia and Antarctica, with a range spanning the Early Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous.

Heterodontosauridae

Daderot · CC0 · 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
heterodontosauridPBDB
Sits inside
PrionodontiaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Ornithischia
Life habit
ground dwelling, gregariousPBDB, for Ornithischia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Ornithischia
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Ornithischia

Time the record covers

At least 79 million years on record.

The record covers at least 205.7 Mya to 125.77 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 227.3 Mya to 121.4 Mya.

Late Triassic — about 1 of 39 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 22 of 39 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 2 of 39 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 6 of 39 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 9 of 39 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous229–226 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences226–222 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences222–218 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences218–215 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences215–211 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences211–207 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences207–204 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences204–200 Mya — about 2 occurrences200–196 Mya — about 7 occurrences196–193 Mya — about 7 occurrences193–189 Mya — about 1 occurrence189–185 Mya — about 1 occurrence185–182 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences182–178 Mya — about 1 occurrence178–174 Mya — about 1 occurrence174–171 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences171–167 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences167–163 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences163–160 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences160–156 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences156–152 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences152–149 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences149–145 Mya — about 4 occurrences145–141 Mya — about 2 occurrences141–138 Mya — about 5 occurrences138–134 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences127–123 Mya — about 1 occurrence123–119 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences205.7 Mya125.77 Mya229 Mya119 Mya

39 occurrences of Heterodontosauridae on record, most of them in the Early 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

39 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

Elliot — 28.50°S, 28.62°EElliot — 30.43°S, 28.52°EElliot — 30.57°S, 27.43°EElliot — 28.98°S, 27.37°EMorrison — 39.15°N, 108.77°WMorrison — 38.81°N, 108.32°WMorrison — 38.99°N, 109.27°WLulworth — 50.60°N, 1.97°WClarens — 31.45°S, 27.85°EClarens — 30.53°S, 27.53°EClarens — 28.53°S, 28.50°ECañadón Asfalto — 43.41°S, 69.23°WEl Castellar — 40.67°N, 0.67°WItat — 55.65°N, 89.18°EElliot — 30.05°S, 28.53°EKayenta — 35.76°N, 111.08°WCamarillas — 40.64°N, 0.86°WTiaojishan — 40.87°N, 119.99°ELa Boca — 26.60°N, 99.52°WClarens — 29.88°S, 27.35°ELaguna Colorada — 48.10°S, 68.30°W

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The named rock units Heterodontosauridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 6 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Heterodontosauridae and its relatives

Early Jurassic

Where Heterodontosauridae and its relatives were recorded in the Early Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

302 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 33 sites for Heterodontosauridae, 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

29 references

Each of the 39 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. 17 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 Heterodontosauridae

Credit
Daderot
Licence
CC0
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 itPrionodontia through timeFormations of the Early JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Romer 1966