Diictodon

Diictodon is an extinct genus of pylaecephalid dicynodont that lived during the Late Permian period, approximately 255 million years ago. Fossils have been found in the Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone of the Madumabisa Mudstone of the Luangwa Basin in Zambia and the Tropidostoma Assemblage Zone of the Teekloof Formation, Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone of the Abrahamskraal Formation, Dicynodon Assemblage Zone of the Balfour Formation, Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone of the Middleton or Balfour Formation of South Africa and the Guodikeng Formation of China. Roughly half of all Permian vertebrate specimens found in South Africa are those of Diictodon. This small herbivorous animal was one of the most successful synapsids in the Permian period.

A picture published with the record for Diictodon.

Nkansahrexford · CC BY 3.0 · 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.

Time the record covers

At least 5.7 million years on record.

The record covers at least 259.857 Mya to 254.14 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 298.9 Mya to 251.902 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 0 of 93 occurrencesPermian — about 93 of 93 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 93 occurrences300–298 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences298–297 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences297–295 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences295–293 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences293–292 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences292–290 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences290–288 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences288–287 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences287–285 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences285–284 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences284–282 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences282–280 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences280–279 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences279–277 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences277–275 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences275–274 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences274–272 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences272–271 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences271–269 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences269–267 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences267–266 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences266–264 Mya — about 1 occurrence264–262 Mya — about 7 occurrences262–261 Mya — about 7 occurrences261–259 Mya — about 13 occurrences259–257 Mya — about 19 occurrences257–256 Mya — about 19 occurrences256–254 Mya — about 19 occurrences254–253 Mya — about 4 occurrences253–251 Mya — about 1 occurrence259.857 Mya – 254.14 Mya299.8 Mya251 Mya

93 occurrences of Diictodon 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

93 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

6 formations

Teekloof — 32.15°S, 22.01°ETeekloof — 31.92°S, 21.52°ETeekloof — 32.23°S, 21.61°ETeekloof — 32.26°S, 21.66°ETeekloof — 32.24°S, 21.66°ETeekloof — 32.08°S, 22.11°ETeekloof — 32.39°S, 22.55°ETeekloof — 32.15°S, 22.73°ETeekloof — 31.97°S, 21.69°EMadumabisa Mudstone — 10.57°S, 32.97°EMadumabisa Mudstone — 12.18°S, 32.11°EAbrahamskraal — 32.42°S, 22.37°EAbrahamskraal — 32.97°S, 22.02°EAbrahamskraal — 32.35°S, 22.58°EAbrahamskraal — 32.91°S, 22.03°EAbrahamskraal — 32.89°S, 21.87°EBalfour — 31.96°S, 24.57°EBalfour — 31.87°S, 24.55°EBalfour — 32.04°S, 24.22°EBalfour — 32.05°S, 24.29°EMiddleton/Balfour — 32.25°S, 24.53°EGuodikeng — 43.82°N, 87.83°E

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The named rock units Diictodon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 41 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Diictodon and its relatives

Permian

Where Diictodon and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

65 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 17 sites for Diictodon, 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

29 references

Each of the 93 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. 17 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 content4

Picture of Diictodon

Credit
Nkansahrexford
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D scan

Licence
CC0 — this site’s default, not the record’s
Commercial use
the licence allows it
Specimen
Diictodon feliceps Owen, 1876

Photogrammetry

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Diictodon feliceps · NHMUK:PAL:PV OR 47052

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
BB-N8
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0.