Ophiacodon

Ophiacodon is an extinct genus of synapsid belonging to the family Ophiacodontidae that lived from the Late Carboniferous to the Early Permian in North America and Europe. The genus was named along with its type species O. mirus by paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878 and currently includes five other species. As an ophiacodontid, Ophiacodon is one of the most basal synapsids and is close to the evolutionary line leading to mammals.

Ophiacodon

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
OphiacodontidaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota
Length
3 mWikidata
Mass
230 kgWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 298.9 Mya to 283.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 307 Mya to 251.902 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 5 of 82 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 77 of 82 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 82 occurrences308–306 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences306–304 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences304–302 Mya — about 1 occurrence302–300 Mya — about 2 occurrences300–299 Mya — about 2 occurrences299–297 Mya — about 4 occurrences297–295 Mya — about 4 occurrences295–293 Mya — about 5 occurrences293–291 Mya — about 6 occurrences291–289 Mya — about 9 occurrences289–287 Mya — about 10 occurrences287–285 Mya — about 10 occurrences285–283 Mya — about 9 occurrences283–281 Mya — about 4 occurrences281–279 Mya — about 4 occurrences279–278 Mya — about 4 occurrences278–276 Mya — about 4 occurrences276–274 Mya — about 3 occurrences274–272 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences272–270 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences270–268 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences268–266 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences266–264 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences264–262 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences262–260 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences260–258 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences258–257 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences257–255 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences255–253 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences253–251 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences298.9 Mya283.3 Mya308 Mya251 Mya

82 occurrences of Ophiacodon 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

82 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

26 formations

Admiral — 33.62°N, 98.86°WAdmiral — 33.60°N, 98.63°WAdmiral — 33.82°N, 98.69°WArroyo — 33.76°N, 99.23°WArroyo — 33.76°N, 99.14°WArroyo — 33.70°N, 99.27°WArroyo — 33.59°N, 99.26°WArroyo — 33.73°N, 99.36°WBelle Plains — 33.69°N, 99.02°WBelle Plains — 33.89°N, 98.81°WBelle Plains — 33.74°N, 98.90°WWaggoner Ranch — 33.69°N, 99.02°WWaggoner Ranch — 33.82°N, 98.69°WWaggoner Ranch — 33.73°N, 99.09°WWaggoner Ranch — 33.76°N, 99.14°WCutler — 37.17°N, 109.85°WCutler — 36.31°N, 106.35°WCutler — 37.03°N, 110.06°WCutler — 38.04°N, 108.12°WCutler — 36.16°N, 106.65°WPetrolia — 33.69°N, 99.02°WPetrolia — 33.64°N, 98.90°WPutnam — 33.60°N, 98.63°WAbo/Cutler — 36.18°N, 106.67°WAbo/Cutler — 36.16°N, 106.64°WArcher City — 33.58°N, 98.65°WArcher City — 33.45°N, 98.78°WWellington — 36.35°N, 97.43°WWellington — 36.30°N, 97.30°WEl Cobre Canyon — 36.14°N, 106.62°WLueders — 33.75°N, 99.12°WLueders — 33.75°N, 99.15°WNocona — 33.68°N, 98.70°WGarber — 34.30°N, 98.60°WGarber — 36.77°N, 97.77°WArroyo del Agua — 36.12°N, 106.66°WArroyo del Agua — 36.12°N, 106.64°WAbo — 34.30°N, 106.54°WAbo — 35.77°N, 106.69°WAda — 34.93°N, 96.70°WBead Mountain — 34.13°N, 98.62°WBarneston Limestone — 37.23°N, 96.98°WKenilworth Sandstone — 52.41°N, 1.52°WGreene — 39.71°N, 81.00°WSangre de Cristo — 34.64°N, 107.18°WLaborcita — 33.08°N, 106.08°WOread — 38.00°N, 96.19°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Ophiacodon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ophiacodon and its relatives

Permian

Where Ophiacodon and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

173 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 53 sites for Ophiacodon, 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

26 references

Each of the 82 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. 14 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 Ophiacodon

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

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Ophiacodon retroversus · MCZ:VP:VPRA-1486

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 itOphiacodontidae through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Marsh 1878