Sphenacodontia

Sphenacodontia is a stem-based clade of derived synapsids. It was defined by Amson and Laurin (2011) as "the largest clade that includes Haptodus baylei, Haptodus garnettensis and Sphenacodon ferox, but not Edaphosaurus pogonias". They first appear during the Late Pennsylvanian epoch. The earliest sphenacodontians were small carnivores, though the group also includes large carnivores, such as the famous Dimetrodon (Sphenacodontidae). The group includes Therapsida, the only living subclade of Synapsida, which is most closely related to Sphenacodontidae within Sphenacodontia as part of the subclade Sphenacodontoidea.

Sphenacodontia

Max Bellomio · 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
SphenacomorphaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 43 million years on record.

The record covers at least 303.7 Mya to 259.857 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 307 Mya to 251.902 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 8 of 150 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 142 of 150 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 150 occurrences308–306 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences306–304 Mya — about 1 occurrence304–302 Mya — about 1 occurrence302–300 Mya — about 3 occurrences300–299 Mya — about 2 occurrences299–297 Mya — about 7 occurrences297–295 Mya — about 7 occurrences295–293 Mya — about 7 occurrences293–291 Mya — about 8 occurrences291–289 Mya — about 12 occurrences289–287 Mya — about 15 occurrences287–285 Mya — about 14 occurrences285–283 Mya — about 12 occurrences283–281 Mya — about 11 occurrences281–279 Mya — about 11 occurrences279–278 Mya — about 11 occurrences278–276 Mya — about 11 occurrences276–274 Mya — about 7 occurrences274–272 Mya — about 1 occurrence272–270 Mya — about 1 occurrence270–268 Mya — about 1 occurrence268–266 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences266–264 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences264–262 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences262–260 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences260–258 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences258–257 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences257–255 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences255–253 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences253–251 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences303.7 Mya259.857 Mya308 Mya251 Mya

150 occurrences of Sphenacodontia 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

150 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

37 formations

Vale — 32.13°N, 99.75°WVale — 33.73°N, 99.56°WVale — 33.76°N, 99.55°WVale — 33.60°N, 99.25°WVale — 32.23°N, 99.83°WVale — 33.67°N, 99.78°WArroyo — 33.77°N, 99.22°WArroyo — 33.76°N, 99.14°WArroyo — 33.70°N, 99.27°WArroyo — 33.97°N, 99.20°WBelle Plains — 33.74°N, 98.90°WBelle Plains — 33.69°N, 99.02°WBelle Plains — 33.87°N, 98.84°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°WAbo — 35.77°N, 106.69°WAbo — 34.64°N, 107.18°WAbo — 33.07°N, 107.22°WAbo — 34.30°N, 106.54°WCutler — 37.17°N, 109.85°WCutler — 37.03°N, 110.06°WCutler — 38.02°N, 108.05°WCutler — 36.16°N, 106.65°WCutler — 36.31°N, 106.35°WAbo/Cutler — 35.72°N, 106.78°WAbo/Cutler — 36.18°N, 106.67°WAbo/Cutler — 36.16°N, 106.64°WAbo/Cutler — 34.17°N, 106.75°WAdmiral — 33.60°N, 98.63°WAdmiral — 33.82°N, 98.69°WAdmiral — 33.60°N, 98.92°WSan Angelo — 33.66°N, 99.94°WSan Angelo — 33.52°N, 99.96°WSan Angelo — 33.69°N, 99.95°WSan Angelo — 33.64°N, 99.93°WGarber — 36.77°N, 97.77°WGarber — 34.30°N, 98.60°WGarber — 36.66°N, 97.69°WWellington — 36.16°N, 97.34°WWellington — 36.35°N, 97.43°WWellington — 36.74°N, 97.42°WWellington — 36.30°N, 97.30°WPutnam — 33.60°N, 98.63°WEl Cobre Canyon — 36.16°N, 106.66°WEl Cobre Canyon — 36.14°N, 106.62°WPetrolia — 33.69°N, 99.02°WPetrolia — 33.64°N, 98.90°WNocona — 33.68°N, 98.70°WNocona — 33.72°N, 98.34°WNocona — 33.83°N, 98.09°WLueders — 33.75°N, 99.12°WLueders — 33.75°N, 99.15°WClyde — 33.77°N, 99.10°WHennessey — 34.19°N, 98.79°WHennessey — 35.95°N, 97.58°WArcher City — 33.58°N, 98.65°WArcher City — 33.67°N, 98.69°WArroyo del Agua — 36.12°N, 106.66°WArroyo del Agua — 36.12°N, 106.64°WSlaný — 50.21°N, 13.68°ELaborcita — 33.08°N, 106.08°WHalgaito — 37.29°N, 109.86°WGarber Sandstone — 34.58°N, 98.85°WGarber Sandstone — 34.53°N, 98.89°W

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The named rock units Sphenacodontia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 13 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 9 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Sphenacodontia and its relatives

Permian

Where Sphenacodontia and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

363 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 89 sites for Sphenacodontia, 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

54 references

Each of the 150 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. 42 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 Sphenacodontia

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

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itSphenacomorpha through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Romer and Price 1940)