Colobodontidae

Colobodontidae is an extinct family of marine stem-neopterygian fish known from the Triassic of Asia and Europe. It contains at least three genera: Colobodus, Crenilepis and Feroxichthys; the genera Chaohuperleidus and Gabanellia may also belong to the family. The colobodontids typically were medium-sized, somewhat deep-bodied fishes with a durophagous diet. Like most other stem-neopterygian families, it was traditionally placed in the paraphyletic order Perleidiformes, but in 2024 it was moved to the new, monotypic order Colobodontiformes.

Colobodontidae

Gyik Toma (Tommy the paleobear) from Romania · CC BY 2.0 · 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
PerleidiformesPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes

Time the record covers

At least 45 million years on record.

The record covers at least 250.8 Mya to 205.7 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 251.1 Mya to 174.7 Mya.

Permian — about 0 of 83 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 2 of 83 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 40 of 83 occurrencesMiddle TriassicLate Triassic — about 39 of 83 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 2 of 83 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 0 of 83 occurrences253–250 Mya — about 1 occurrence250–247 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences247–245 Mya — about 3 occurrences245–242 Mya — about 16 occurrences242–239 Mya — about 11 occurrences239–237 Mya — about 11 occurrences237–234 Mya — about 3 occurrences234–231 Mya — about 2 occurrences231–229 Mya — about 2 occurrences229–226 Mya — about 2 occurrences226–223 Mya — about 1 occurrence223–221 Mya — about 1 occurrence221–218 Mya — about 1 occurrence218–216 Mya — about 1 occurrence216–213 Mya — about 4 occurrences213–210 Mya — about 3 occurrences210–208 Mya — about 1 occurrence208–205 Mya — about 3 occurrences205–202 Mya — about 8 occurrences202–200 Mya — about 3 occurrences200–197 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences197–194 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences194–192 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences192–189 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences189–186 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences186–184 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences184–181 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences181–178 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences178–176 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences176–173 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences250.8 Mya205.7 Mya253 Mya173 Mya

83 occurrences of Colobodontidae on record, most of them in the Middle 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

83 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

29 formations

Muschelkalk — 41.27°N, 1.12°EMuschelkalk — 41.80°N, 2.23°EMuschelkalk — 41.56°N, 1.90°EMuschelkalk — 42.13°N, 1.46°EBesano — 45.88°N, 8.90°EBesano — 45.96°N, 8.81°EChinle — 34.44°N, 109.46°WChinle — 35.05°N, 109.83°WChinle — 34.95°N, 109.76°WChinle — 34.68°N, 109.58°WGrabfeld — 49.70°N, 10.43°EGrès de Mortinsart — 49.70°N, 5.66°EGrès de Mortinsart — 49.75°N, 5.79°EBesano — 45.91°N, 8.94°EWestbury — 51.60°N, 2.63°WTecovas — 35.38°N, 102.16°WTecovas — 33.45°N, 101.17°WRedonda — 34.97°N, 103.46°WRedonda — 34.95°N, 103.44°WIsalo II — 20.35°S, 45.38°ESeefelder — 47.32°N, 11.22°EDolomia Principale — 40.72°N, 14.95°ETrochitenkalk — 49.31°N, 8.72°EGuanling — 24.71°N, 104.33°EGuanling — 25.70°N, 104.47°EBull Canyon — 35.37°N, 103.38°WVäszoly — 46.88°N, 17.60°ETimezgadiouine — 31.07°N, 8.93°WFavret — 40.06°N, 117.56°WTrossingen — 51.90°N, 11.07°ELower Ceratite Limestone — 32.41°N, 72.10°ESan Cassiano — 46.54°N, 11.94°ECassian — 46.55°N, 11.93°ERaibl — 47.32°N, 10.98°EJilh — 26.39°N, 44.24°E

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The named rock units Colobodontidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 25 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Colobodontidae and its relatives

Middle Triassic

Where Colobodontidae and its relatives were recorded in the Middle Triassic.

Found in the same rock

868 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 70 sites for Colobodontidae, 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

49 references

Each of the 83 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. 37 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 Colobodontidae

Credit
Gyik Toma (Tommy the paleobear) from Romania
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Colobodontidae was found in Smithsonian Open Access and Sketchfab.

MorphoSource 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 itPerleidiformes through timeFormations of the Middle TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Stensiö 1916