Bradysaurus

Bradysaurus is a genus of large, basal pareiasaur. They possessed a covering of armoured scutes, likely serving as defense against predators. Fossils of Bradysaurus are known from the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone of the South African Karoo. Along with the similarly large dinocephalia, the bradysaurs constituted the herbivorous megafauna of the late Middle Permian Period in the region.

Bradysaurus

Jonathan Chen · 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
PareiasauriaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Pareiasauria
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At most 47 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 298.9 Mya and 251.902 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Carboniferous — about 0 of 30 occurrencesPermian — about 30 of 30 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 30 occurrences300–298 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences298–297 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences297–295 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences295–293 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences293–292 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences292–290 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences290–288 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences288–287 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences287–285 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences285–284 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences284–282 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences282–280 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences280–279 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences279–277 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences277–275 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences275–274 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences274–272 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences272–271 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences271–269 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences269–267 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences267–266 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences266–264 Mya — about 2 occurrences264–262 Mya — about 11 occurrences262–261 Mya — about 11 occurrences261–259 Mya — about 6 occurrences259–257 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences257–256 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences256–254 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences254–253 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences253–251 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences299.8 Mya251 Mya

30 occurrences of Bradysaurus 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

30 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

Abrahamskraal — 32.33°S, 21.80°EAbrahamskraal — 32.47°S, 21.77°EAbrahamskraal — 32.46°S, 21.86°EAbrahamskraal — 32.82°S, 21.97°EAbrahamskraal — 32.91°S, 22.03°EAbrahamskraal — 32.90°S, 21.82°EAbrahamskraal — 32.49°S, 22.17°EAbrahamskraal — 32.70°S, 21.75°EAbrahamskraal — 32.44°S, 22.19°EAbrahamskraal — 32.37°S, 22.00°EAbrahamskraal — 32.97°S, 22.02°EAbrahamskraal — 32.86°S, 22.11°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Bradysaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 11 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Bradysaurus and its relatives

Permian

Where Bradysaurus and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

43 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 15 sites for Bradysaurus, 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

6 references

Each of the 30 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 content2

Picture of Bradysaurus

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

Photogrammetry

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Bradysaurus baini · NHMUK:PAL:PV R 4066

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 itPareiasauria through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Watson 1914