Microcnemus

Microcnemus is an extinct genus of lizard-like early archosauromorph reptiles from the Protorosauridae. Members of the genus lived during the Early Triassic period in Russia. Once believed to have been an ancestor to lizards, Microcnemus is now known to be one of the oldest members of the lineage that would eventually lead to archosaurs such as crocodilians and dinosaurs. The type species, M. efremovi, was named in 1940 by the German palaeontologist Friedrich von Huene.

No picture of Microcnemus was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none. Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is. GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Microcnemus, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
ProtorosauridaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Protorosauria
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Protorosauria
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Diapsida

Time the record covers

At most 5 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 251.902 Mya and 247 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Permian — about 0 of 8 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 8 of 8 occurrencesEarly TriassicMiddle Triassic — about 0 of 8 occurrences252–252 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences252–252 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences252–251 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences251–251 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences251–251 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences251–251 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences251–251 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences251–250 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences250–250 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences250–250 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences250–250 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences250–250 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences250–249 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences249–249 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences249–249 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences249–249 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences249–249 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences249–248 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences248–248 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences248–248 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences248–248 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences248–248 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences248–247 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences247–247 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences247–247 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences247–247 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences252.4 Mya246.5 Mya

8 occurrences of Microcnemus on record, most of them in the Early 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

8 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

4 formations

Kopanaskya — 51.34°N, 55.72°EVokhma — 57.42°N, 45.08°EKamennyi Yar — 52.81°N, 51.70°EVokhminskaya — 57.88°N, 45.91°E

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The named rock units Microcnemus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Microcnemus and its relatives

Early Triassic

Where Microcnemus and its relatives were recorded in the Early Triassic.

Found in the same rock

21 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 7 sites for Microcnemus, 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 8 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 content1

Photogrammetry

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Microcnemus sp. · BGR:B-ORIG:000185177

No picture of Microcnemus was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none.

Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is.

GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Microcnemus, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

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 itProtorosauridae through timeFormations of the Early TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Huene 1940