Metoposauridae

Metoposauridae is an extinct family of trematosaurian temnospondyls. The family is known from the Late Triassic period. Most members are large, approximately 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) long and could reach 3 m long. Metoposaurids can be distinguished from most other stereospondyls by the position of their eyes, placed far forward on the snout.

Metoposauridae

Dmitry Bogdanov · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
TrematosauroideaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Temnospondyli
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB, for Temnospondyli
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Temnospondyli
Environment
brackish,freshwater,terrestrialPBDB, for Tetrapoda

Time the record covers

At least 37 million years on record.

The record covers at least 243.43 Mya to 205.7 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 244.4 Mya to 201.4 Mya.

Middle Triassic — about 1 of 252 occurrencesMiddle TriassicLate Triassic — about 251 of 252 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 252 occurrences245–244 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences244–242 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences238–236 Mya — about 4 occurrences236–235 Mya — about 8 occurrences235–233 Mya — about 8 occurrences233–232 Mya — about 8 occurrences232–230 Mya — about 8 occurrences230–229 Mya — about 8 occurrences229–227 Mya — about 8 occurrences227–226 Mya — about 13 occurrences226–224 Mya — about 13 occurrences224–223 Mya — about 13 occurrences223–221 Mya — about 13 occurrences221–220 Mya — about 13 occurrences220–218 Mya — about 13 occurrences218–217 Mya — about 13 occurrences217–215 Mya — about 13 occurrences215–214 Mya — about 13 occurrences214–212 Mya — about 13 occurrences212–211 Mya — about 13 occurrences211–209 Mya — about 13 occurrences209–208 Mya — about 13 occurrences208–207 Mya — about 13 occurrences207–205 Mya — about 8 occurrences205–204 Mya — about 3 occurrences204–202 Mya — about 3 occurrences202–201 Mya — about 1 occurrence243.43 Mya205.7 Mya245.3 Mya200.5 Mya

252 occurrences of Metoposauridae 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

252 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

40 formations

Chinle — 34.51°N, 109.36°WChinle — 34.44°N, 109.46°WChinle — 35.05°N, 109.83°WChinle — 35.84°N, 111.25°WChinle — 34.94°N, 109.77°WChinle — 35.09°N, 109.79°WChinle — 35.12°N, 110.55°WChinle — 36.33°N, 106.47°WChinle — 35.47°N, 108.56°WChinle — 35.41°N, 108.47°WChinle — 36.09°N, 111.36°WChinle — 34.83°N, 109.81°WChinle — 35.38°N, 109.37°WChinle — 34.68°N, 109.58°WChinle — 34.53°N, 109.32°WChinle — 35.02°N, 109.89°WChinle — 34.92°N, 109.91°WChinle — 34.82°N, 109.90°WChinle — 34.94°N, 109.74°WChinle — 35.33°N, 109.17°WChinle — 35.63°N, 109.10°WChinle — 36.00°N, 109.45°WChinle — 36.42°N, 109.33°WChinle — 36.40°N, 109.20°WChinle — 36.35°N, 109.47°WChinle — 36.45°N, 109.57°WChinle — 34.73°N, 109.67°WChinle — 34.83°N, 109.50°WChinle — 34.40°N, 109.60°WChinle — 36.50°N, 109.42°WChinle — 35.88°N, 111.28°WChinle — 35.84°N, 111.30°WChinle — 36.58°N, 106.83°WChinle — 35.87°N, 111.37°WChinle — 34.90°N, 107.73°WChinle — 35.56°N, 106.82°WChinle — 37.27°N, 109.68°WBluewater Creek — 35.42°N, 108.49°WBluewater Creek — 35.43°N, 108.57°WBluewater Creek — 35.31°N, 108.09°WBluewater Creek — 34.90°N, 107.73°WRedonda — 34.94°N, 103.43°WRedonda — 34.95°N, 103.44°WRedonda — 34.97°N, 103.46°WRedonda — 35.00°N, 103.67°WRedonda — 34.98°N, 103.33°WTecovas — 33.45°N, 101.17°WTecovas — 33.52°N, 101.14°WTecovas — 34.96°N, 101.70°WTecovas — 35.38°N, 102.16°WTecovas — 33.42°N, 101.13°WTecovas — 33.58°N, 101.17°WPopo Agie — 43.17°N, 109.18°WPopo Agie — 43.10°N, 109.15°WPopo Agie — 43.70°N, 108.68°WPopo Agie — 42.70°N, 108.67°WCooper Canyon — 33.52°N, 101.32°WCooper Canyon — 33.00°N, 101.15°WCooper Canyon — 33.04°N, 101.38°WCooper Canyon — 33.45°N, 101.44°WCooper Canyon — 33.11°N, 101.45°WGarita Creek — 35.24°N, 105.79°WGarita Creek — 35.35°N, 104.52°WGarita Creek — 35.33°N, 104.33°WGarita Creek — 35.28°N, 104.55°WSanta Rosa — 35.24°N, 105.79°WSanta Rosa — 35.47°N, 105.85°WSanta Rosa — 35.46°N, 105.87°WColorado City — 32.17°N, 101.25°WColorado City — 32.18°N, 101.25°WMaleri — 19.22°N, 79.58°EBull Canyon — 34.98°N, 104.15°WBull Canyon — 35.10°N, 103.40°WBull Canyon — 35.37°N, 103.38°WTimezgadiouine — 31.07°N, 8.93°WTimezgadiouine — 31.03°N, 9.01°WTiki — 23.92°N, 81.37°ETiki — 23.98°N, 81.40°EHassberge — 49.84°N, 10.48°EStuttgart — 48.80°N, 9.17°EStuttgart — 48.86°N, 9.39°EStuttgart — 49.13°N, 9.26°EStuttgart — 49.42°N, 10.48°EWeser — 48.98°N, 9.70°EWeser — 48.77°N, 9.20°EWeser — 49.03°N, 9.30°EWeser — 48.88°N, 9.57°EPetrified Forest — 34.64°N, 107.48°WPetrified Forest — 35.32°N, 106.31°WPetrified Forest — 36.21°N, 106.62°WSloan Canyon — 36.96°N, 102.98°WSloan Canyon — 36.97°N, 102.17°WSloan Canyon — 36.92°N, 103.50°WDockum — 33.50°N, 101.13°WGrès de Silves — 37.25°N, 8.11°WLockatong — 40.81°N, 74.02°WLockatong — 40.13°N, 75.52°WNew Oxford — 40.05°N, 76.77°WNew Oxford — 40.02°N, 76.73°WIsalo II — 18.18°S, 44.93°ETrossingen — 51.90°N, 11.07°E

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The named rock units Metoposauridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 16 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Metoposauridae and its relatives

Late Triassic

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

Found in the same rock

382 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 207 sites for Metoposauridae, 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

80 references

Each of the 252 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. 68 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 Metoposauridae

Credit
Dmitry Bogdanov
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Metoposauridae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itTrematosauroidea through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Watson 1919