Atopocephala

Atopocephala is an extinct genus of prehistoric freshwater ray-finned fish that lived during the Middle Triassic epoch. It contains a single species, A. watsoni from the Karoo Supergroup of South Africa. A potential indeterminate species was known from the Timezgadiouine Formation of Morocco, but is now considered an indeterminate actinopterygian.

Atopocephala

Ghedo · 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
RedfieldiidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Palaeonisciformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Palaeonisciformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Palaeonisciformes

Time the record covers

At most 36 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 237 Mya and 201.4 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Middle Triassic — about 0 of 2 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 2 of 2 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 2 occurrences238–236 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences236–235 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences235–234 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences234–233 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences233–232 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences232–230 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences230–229 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences229–228 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences228–227 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences227–225 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences225–224 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences224–223 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences223–222 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences222–220 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences220–219 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences219–218 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences218–217 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences217–215 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences215–214 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences214–213 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences213–212 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences212–211 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences211–209 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences209–208 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences208–207 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences207–206 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences206–204 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences204–203 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences203–202 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences202–201 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences237.7 Mya200.7 Mya

2 occurrences of Atopocephala 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

2 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

1 formation

Timezgadiouine — 31.07°N, 8.93°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Atopocephala has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Atopocephala and its relatives

Late Triassic

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

Found in the same rock

21 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 2 sites for Atopocephala, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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

2 references

Each of the 2 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. 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 Atopocephala

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

No 3D scan of Atopocephala was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itRedfieldiidae through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Brough 1934