Brachychirotherium

Brachychirotherium is an ichnogenus, a form taxon based on footprints. It is a type of chirothere, a term referring to the footprints of five-toed Triassic reptiles with a short fifth digit, leaving an appearance similar to a reverse human hand print. Brachychirotherium was first characterized from fossils found in Triassic beds in Germany, but has since been found in France, South Africa, Argentina, Greenland, Peru, Bolivia, and North America.

Brachychirotherium

Kent G. Budge · 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
ChirotheriidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Pseudosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Diapsida

Time the record covers

At least 45 million years on record.

The record covers at least 247 Mya to 201.4 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 250.8 Mya to 192.9 Mya.

Permian — about 0 of 105 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 4 of 105 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 34 of 105 occurrencesMiddle TriassicLate Triassic — about 66 of 105 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 1 of 105 occurrencesEarly Jurassic252–250 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences250–248 Mya — about 2 occurrences248–246 Mya — about 6 occurrences246–244 Mya — about 7 occurrences244–242 Mya — about 9 occurrences242–240 Mya — about 7 occurrences240–238 Mya — about 6 occurrences238–236 Mya — about 4 occurrences236–234 Mya — about 3 occurrences234–232 Mya — about 3 occurrences232–230 Mya — about 3 occurrences230–228 Mya — about 3 occurrences228–226 Mya — about 4 occurrences226–224 Mya — about 4 occurrences224–222 Mya — about 4 occurrences222–220 Mya — about 4 occurrences220–218 Mya — about 4 occurrences218–216 Mya — about 4 occurrences216–214 Mya — about 4 occurrences214–212 Mya — about 4 occurrences212–210 Mya — about 4 occurrences210–208 Mya — about 4 occurrences208–206 Mya — about 4 occurrences206–204 Mya — about 5 occurrences204–202 Mya — about 6 occurrences202–200 Mya — about 1 occurrence200–198 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences198–196 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences196–194 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences194–192 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences247 Mya201.4 Mya252 Mya192 Mya

105 occurrences of Brachychirotherium 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

105 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

34 formations

Grès d'Antully — 46.84°N, 4.43°EGrès d'Antully — 46.90°N, 4.42°EGrès d'Antully — 46.61°N, 4.48°EGrès d'Antully — 46.97°N, 4.31°EPassaic — 40.57°N, 75.10°WPassaic — 40.83°N, 74.11°WPassaic — 40.29°N, 75.80°WPassaic — 40.75°N, 74.19°WPassaic — 40.26°N, 75.73°WPassaic — 40.24°N, 75.59°WPassaic — 40.22°N, 75.43°WWingate Sandstone — 38.51°N, 109.61°WWingate Sandstone — 38.70°N, 109.69°WWingate Sandstone — 39.03°N, 108.64°WWingate Sandstone — 38.62°N, 108.94°WTimezgadiouine — 31.07°N, 8.97°WTimezgadiouine — 31.05°N, 8.98°WGrès Inférieurs du Lyonnais — 45.25°N, 5.32°EGrès Inférieurs du Lyonnais — 45.82°N, 4.79°EGrès Inférieurs du Roubreau — 44.53°N, 4.29°EPopo Agie — 40.47°N, 109.33°WPopo Agie — 40.45°N, 109.33°WPopo Agie — 40.57°N, 109.65°WChinle — 38.65°N, 108.91°WChinle — 40.58°N, 109.42°WChinle — 34.81°N, 109.88°WSheep Pen Sandstone — 37.01°N, 102.96°WSheep Pen Sandstone — 38.00°N, 102.97°WWióry — 50.96°N, 21.20°EPekin — 35.56°N, 79.28°WStockton — 41.14°N, 73.91°WBull Run — 38.44°N, 77.92°WRock Point — 38.01°N, 109.54°WRock Point — 38.60°N, 109.60°WRedonda — 34.98°N, 103.64°WRedonda — 34.95°N, 103.43°WSloan Canyon — 36.94°N, 103.15°WSloan Canyon — 36.89°N, 103.35°WNugget Sandstone — 40.36°N, 109.26°WOued Oum Er Rbiaa — 33.15°N, 8.14°WGettysburg — 40.00°N, 77.06°WLockatong — 40.15°N, 75.46°WWolfville — 45.20°N, 64.62°WBluewater Creek — 35.45°N, 108.54°WElliot — 30.35°S, 27.60°ELos Colorados — 29.57°S, 68.05°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Brachychirotherium has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 8 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Brachychirotherium and its relatives

Late Triassic

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

Found in the same rock

182 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 88 sites for Brachychirotherium, 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

65 references

Each of the 105 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. 53 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 Brachychirotherium

Credit
Kent G. Budge
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Brachychirotherium 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 itChirotheriidae through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Beurlen 1950