Silesauridae

Silesauridae is an extinct family of early dinosauriforms which lived during the Triassic Period. Their fossils have been found in Europe, North America, South America, and Africa, reaching peak diversity early in the Late Triassic. The exact affinities of silesaurids are debated, and various studies come to different conclusions regarding the relationship between silesaurids and early dinosaurs.

Silesauridae

Zissoudisctrucker · 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
ParapredentataPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Ornithischia
Life habit
ground dwelling, gregariousPBDB, for Ornithischia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Ornithischia
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Ornithischia

Time the record covers

At least 35 million years on record.

The record covers at least 241.464 Mya to 205.7 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 247 Mya to 72.2 Mya.

Early Triassic — about 0 of 40 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 9 of 40 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 30 of 40 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 40 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 0 of 40 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 0 of 40 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 0 of 40 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 0 of 40 occurrencesLate Cretaceous250–244 Mya — about 2 occurrences244–238 Mya — about 5 occurrences238–232 Mya — about 4 occurrences232–226 Mya — about 4 occurrences226–220 Mya — about 6 occurrences220–214 Mya — about 6 occurrences214–208 Mya — about 6 occurrences208–202 Mya — about 5 occurrences202–196 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences196–190 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences190–184 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences184–178 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences178–172 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences172–166 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences166–160 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences160–154 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences154–147 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences147–141 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences141–135 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences135–129 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences129–123 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences123–117 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences117–111 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences111–105 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences105–99 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences99–93 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences93–87 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences87–81 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences81–75 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences75–69 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences241.464 Mya205.7 Mya250 Mya69 Mya

40 occurrences of Silesauridae 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

40 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

13 formations

Chinle — 36.31°N, 106.45°WChinle — 34.94°N, 109.77°WChinle — 36.32°N, 106.48°WChinle — 39.83°N, 106.33°WChinle — 39.87°N, 106.91°WChinle — 34.93°N, 109.64°WChinle — 34.97°N, 109.70°WChinle — 34.84°N, 109.82°WChinle — 35.09°N, 109.81°WChinle — 34.93°N, 109.70°WManda Beds — 10.30°S, 35.13°EManda Beds — 10.47°S, 35.50°EManda Beds — 10.13°S, 35.34°EChañares — 29.82°S, 67.82°WChañares — 29.85°S, 67.78°WCooper Canyon — 33.52°N, 101.32°WDrawno Beds — 50.67°N, 18.25°ECaturrita — 29.63°S, 53.23°WGrabowa — 50.67°N, 18.28°EColorado City — 32.17°N, 101.25°WTimezgadiouine — 31.06°N, 8.97°WNtawere — 10.83°S, 33.19°EWozniki Limestone — 50.48°N, 19.34°ESanta Maria — 29.78°S, 54.10°WPopo Agie — 43.57°N, 109.45°W

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The named rock units Silesauridae 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.

Silesauridae and its relatives

Late Triassic

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

Found in the same rock

179 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 37 sites for Silesauridae, 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

24 references

Each of the 40 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. 12 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 content2

Picture of Silesauridae

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

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Silesauridae indet. · uwgm:uw:7550

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 itParapredentata through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Langer et al. 2010