Clevosaurus

Clevosaurus is an extinct genus of rhynchocephalian reptile from the Late Triassic and the Early Jurassic periods. Species of Clevosaurus were widespread across Pangaea, and have been found on all continents except Australia and Antarctica. Five species of Clevosaurus have been found in ancient fissure fill deposits in south-west England and Wales, alongside other sphenodontians, early mammals and dinosaurs. In regards to its Pangaean distribution, C. hadroprodon is the oldest record of a sphenodontian from Gondwana, though its affinity to Clevosaurus has been questioned.

Clevosaurus

Hemiauchenia · 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
ClevosauridaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 34 million years on record.

The record covers at least 227.3 Mya to 192.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 237 Mya to 184.2 Mya.

Middle Triassic — about 0 of 36 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 21 of 36 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 15 of 36 occurrencesEarly Jurassic238–236 Mya — about 1 occurrence236–234 Mya — about 3 occurrences234–233 Mya — about 3 occurrences233–231 Mya — about 3 occurrences231–229 Mya — about 3 occurrences229–227 Mya — about 2 occurrences227–225 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences225–223 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences223–222 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences222–220 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences220–218 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences218–216 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences216–214 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences214–212 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences212–211 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences211–209 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences209–207 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences207–205 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences205–203 Mya — about 1 occurrence203–201 Mya — about 1 occurrence201–200 Mya — about 7 occurrences200–198 Mya — about 1 occurrence198–196 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences196–194 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences194–192 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences192–190 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences190–189 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences189–187 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences187–185 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences185–183 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences227.3 Mya192.9 Mya238 Mya183 Mya

36 occurrences of Clevosaurus 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

36 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

8 formations

McCoy Brook — 45.40°N, 64.22°WLa Boca — 26.60°N, 99.52°WLufeng — 25.15°N, 101.98°ELufeng — 25.18°N, 102.09°ECaturrita — 29.56°S, 53.45°WCaturrita — 29.69°S, 52.85°WMagnesian Conglomerate — 51.47°N, 2.62°WGrès de Mortinsart — 49.71°N, 5.62°ESanta Maria — 29.66°S, 52.81°WKlettgau — 47.51°N, 8.01°E

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The named rock units Clevosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 17 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Clevosaurus and its relatives

Late Triassic

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

Found in the same rock

116 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 34 sites for Clevosaurus, 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

21 references

Each of the 36 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. 9 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 Clevosaurus

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

No 3D scan of Clevosaurus 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 itClevosauridae through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Swinton 1939