Heterodontosaurus

Heterodontosaurus is a genus of heterodontosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Early Jurassic, 200–190 million years ago. Its only known member species, Heterodontosaurus tucki, was named in 1962 based on a skull discovered in South Africa. The genus name means "different toothed lizard", in reference to its unusual, heterodont dentition; the specific name honours G. C. Tuck, who supported the discoverers. Further specimens have since been found, including an almost complete skeleton in 1966.

Heterodontosaurus

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
Sits inside
HeterodontosaurinaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Ornithischia
Environment
terrestrialPBDB
Length
1.2 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At most 18 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 201.4 Mya and 184.2 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Late Triassic — about 0 of 7 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 7 of 7 occurrencesEarly Jurassic202–201 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences201–201 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences201–200 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences200–199 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences199–199 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences199–198 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences198–198 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences198–197 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences197–196 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences196–196 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences196–195 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences195–195 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences195–194 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences194–193 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences193–193 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences193–192 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences192–192 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences192–191 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences191–190 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences190–190 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences190–189 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences189–189 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences189–188 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences188–187 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences187–187 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences187–186 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences186–186 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences186–185 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences185–184 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences184–184 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences201.9 Mya183.7 Mya

7 occurrences of Heterodontosaurus 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

7 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

3 formations

Elliot — 30.57°S, 27.43°EElliot — 28.98°S, 27.37°EClarens — 30.53°S, 27.53°EClarens — 28.53°S, 28.50°ELa Boca — 26.60°N, 99.52°W

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The named rock units Heterodontosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Heterodontosaurus and its relatives

Early Jurassic

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

Found in the same rock

7 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 7 sites for Heterodontosaurus, 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

6 references

Each of the 7 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 content3

Picture of Heterodontosaurus

Credit
Daderot
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Heterodontosaurus tucki · amnh:farb:2400

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
PeePmono
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 itHeterodontosaurinae through timeFormations of the Early JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Crompton and Charig 1962