Plateosaurus

Plateosaurus is a genus of plateosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Triassic epoch of the Triassic period, around 214 to 204 million years ago, in what is now Central and Northern Europe. Plateosaurus is a basal (early) sauropodomorph dinosaur, a so-called "prosauropod". The type species is Plateosaurus trossingensis; before 2019, that honor was given to Plateosaurus engelhardti, but it was ruled as undiagnostic by the ICZN. Currently, there are three valid species; in addition to P. trossingensis, P. longiceps and P. gracilis are also known. However, others have been assigned in the past, and there is no broad consensus on the species taxonomy of plateosaurid dinosaurs. Similarly, there are a plethora of synonyms at the genus level.

A picture published with the record for Plateosaurus.

FunkMonk · 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
PlateosauridaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Diapsida
Length
7 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 9.7 million years on record.

The record covers at least 211.18 Mya to 201.4 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 237 Mya to 199.5 Mya.

Middle Triassic — about 0 of 36 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 35 of 36 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 1 of 36 occurrences238–236 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences236–235 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences235–234 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences234–233 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences233–231 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences231–230 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences230–229 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences229–227 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences227–226 Mya — about 1 occurrence226–225 Mya — about 1 occurrence225–223 Mya — about 1 occurrence223–222 Mya — about 1 occurrence222–221 Mya — about 1 occurrence221–220 Mya — about 1 occurrence220–218 Mya — about 1 occurrence218–217 Mya — about 1 occurrence217–216 Mya — about 1 occurrence216–214 Mya — about 2 occurrences214–213 Mya — about 2 occurrences213–212 Mya — about 2 occurrences212–210 Mya — about 2 occurrences210–209 Mya — about 1 occurrence209–208 Mya — about 1 occurrence208–207 Mya — about 1 occurrence207–205 Mya — about 2 occurrences205–204 Mya — about 3 occurrences204–203 Mya — about 3 occurrences203–201 Mya — about 3 occurrences201–200 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences200–199 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences211.18 Mya201.4 Mya237.8 Mya198.8 Mya

36 occurrences of Plateosaurus 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

36 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

15 formations

Löwenstein — 48.07°N, 8.65°ELöwenstein — 48.76°N, 9.14°ELöwenstein — 49.06°N, 8.98°ELöwenstein — 48.08°N, 8.64°ETrossingen — 49.52°N, 11.13°ETrossingen — 48.53°N, 9.05°ETrossingen — 48.75°N, 9.17°ETrossingen — 48.73°N, 9.10°ETrossingen — 51.90°N, 11.07°ETrossingen — 49.06°N, 10.98°ETrossingen — 48.07°N, 8.65°EKlettgau — 47.50°N, 8.02°EKlettgau — 47.74°N, 8.49°EMarnes irisées supérieures — 46.90°N, 5.77°EMarnes irisées supérieures — 46.84°N, 5.66°EØrsted Dal — 71.83°N, 23.51°WGrès à Avicula contorta — 48.62°N, 6.33°EMarnes de Châlins — 46.67°N, 5.55°EWestbury — 53.03°N, 0.81°WRhätkeuper — 52.07°N, 10.68°ELunde — 61.51°N, 2.17°EFeuerletten — 49.48°N, 11.27°EElliot — 30.73°S, 27.18°EGrès de Infralias — 48.01°N, 5.53°ELaguna Colorada — 48.10°S, 68.30°WBamberg — 50.29°N, 11.09°E

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The named rock units Plateosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Plateosaurus and its relatives

Late Triassic

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

Found in the same rock

129 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 31 sites for Plateosaurus, 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 36 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 Plateosaurus

Credit
FunkMonk
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
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
Plateosaurus trossingensis · nhmw:uncatalogued

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itPlateosauridae through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Meyer 1837