Opisthotriton

Opisthotriton is an extinct genus of prehistoric salamanders that lived in North America between at least the Upper Cretaceous and the Paleocene.

Opisthotriton

via iDigBio · CC BY-NC-SA · via iDigBio. 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
BatrachosauroididaePBDB
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 26 million years on record.

The record covers at least 83.6 Mya to 57.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 85.7 Mya to 56 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 116 of 140 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 24 of 140 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 0 of 140 occurrences86–85 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences85–84 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 3 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 6 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 6 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 6 occurrences80–79 Mya — about 6 occurrences79–78 Mya — about 6 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 6 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 6 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 6 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 6 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 6 occurrences73–72 Mya — about 7 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 8 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 8 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 8 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 8 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 8 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 7 occurrences66–65 Mya — about 4 occurrences65–64 Mya — about 4 occurrences64–63 Mya — about 3 occurrences63–62 Mya — about 3 occurrences62–61 Mya — about 2 occurrences61–60 Mya — about 2 occurrences60–58 Mya — about 2 occurrences58–57 Mya — about 2 occurrences57–56 Mya — about 1 occurrence56–55 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences83.6 Mya57.5 Mya86.3 Mya55.4 Mya

140 occurrences of Opisthotriton on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. 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

140 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

27 formations

Dinosaur Park — 49.12°N, 110.47°WDinosaur Park — 50.74°N, 111.49°WDinosaur Park — 50.79°N, 111.62°WDinosaur Park — 50.75°N, 111.46°WDinosaur Park — 50.75°N, 111.40°WDinosaur Park — 50.78°N, 111.33°WDinosaur Park — 49.96°N, 110.27°WDinosaur Park — 50.68°N, 108.09°WHell Creek — 47.80°N, 106.10°WHell Creek — 45.95°N, 103.96°WHell Creek — 46.03°N, 103.77°WHell Creek — 46.38°N, 103.96°WHell Creek — 46.10°N, 103.30°WHell Creek — 46.33°N, 103.90°WHell Creek — 47.55°N, 107.13°WHell Creek — 47.57°N, 107.10°WHell Creek — 47.52°N, 106.40°WHell Creek — 47.55°N, 107.25°WHell Creek — 47.53°N, 106.92°WHell Creek — 47.07°N, 106.92°WHell Creek — 47.61°N, 106.90°WHell Creek — 47.60°N, 107.00°WHell Creek — 47.27°N, 107.13°WHell Creek — 45.05°N, 101.97°WHell Creek — 45.50°N, 103.10°WHell Creek — 45.64°N, 103.49°WHell Creek — 45.00°N, 103.19°WOldman — 50.75°N, 111.51°WOldman — 49.10°N, 110.94°WOldman — 49.08°N, 110.84°WOldman — 49.08°N, 110.68°WOldman — 49.16°N, 110.72°WOldman — 50.83°N, 111.32°WFort Union — 45.20°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 45.80°N, 109.80°WFort Union — 44.91°N, 108.93°WFort Union — 44.72°N, 108.62°WFort Union — 44.05°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 46.05°N, 104.48°WFort Union — 46.90°N, 101.50°WFort Union — 47.60°N, 107.00°WFort Union — 46.33°N, 104.01°WFort Union — 41.30°N, 107.74°WLance — 43.30°N, 104.37°WLance — 43.12°N, 104.64°WLance — 41.57°N, 108.67°WLance — 43.18°N, 104.53°WLance — 43.15°N, 104.57°WLance — 43.13°N, 104.49°WLance — 43.00°N, 104.50°WHorseshoe Canyon — 51.55°N, 112.87°WHorseshoe Canyon — 52.00°N, 112.88°WKaiparowits — 37.80°N, 111.50°WKaiparowits — 37.20°N, 112.88°WKaiparowits — 37.42°N, 111.77°WForemost — 50.07°N, 111.14°WForemost — 49.13°N, 110.87°WJudith River — 46.10°N, 109.10°WJudith River — 47.73°N, 108.95°WFrenchman — 49.52°N, 108.82°WFrenchman — 49.30°N, 108.40°WRavenscrag — 49.06°N, 102.75°WRavenscrag — 49.50°N, 109.20°WStraight Cliffs — 37.62°N, 112.16°WFox Hills — 46.47°N, 99.58°WFox Hills — 46.38°N, 99.59°WLaramie — 40.39°N, 104.49°WFruitland — 36.27°N, 108.21°WSt. Mary River — 49.91°N, 112.99°WJudith River — 49.10°N, 109.50°WTullock — 47.80°N, 106.10°WDenver — 39.70°N, 104.70°WPaskapoo — 52.35°N, 113.77°WSlope — 46.70°N, 101.80°WScollard — 53.35°N, 114.40°WBlack Peaks — 29.28°N, 103.55°WCoalspur — 53.00°N, 116.80°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Opisthotriton has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Opisthotriton and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Opisthotriton and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

940 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 138 sites for Opisthotriton, 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

37 references

Each of the 140 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. 25 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 Opisthotriton

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
CC BY-NC-SA
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

No 3D scan of Opisthotriton 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 itBatrachosauroididae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Auffenberg 1961