Diplocaulus

Diplocaulus is an extinct genus of lepospondyl amphibians which lived from the Late Carboniferous to the Late Permian of North America and Africa. Diplocaulus is by far the largest and best-known of the lepospondyls, characterized by a distinctive boomerang-shaped skull. Remains attributed to Diplocaulus have been found from the Late Permian of Morocco and represent the youngest-known occurrence of a lepospondyl.

Diplocaulus

Camelops · 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
DiplocaulidaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
brackish,freshwater,terrestrialPBDB, for Tetrapoda
Length
1 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 43 million years on record.

The record covers at least 303.7 Mya to 259.857 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 307.4 Mya to 251.902 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 4 of 74 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 70 of 74 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 74 occurrences309–307 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences307–305 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences305–303 Mya — about 1 occurrence303–301 Mya — about 1 occurrence301–299 Mya — about 1 occurrence299–297 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences297–295 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences295–293 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences293–291 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences291–289 Mya — about 2 occurrences289–287 Mya — about 2 occurrences287–285 Mya — about 3 occurrences285–283 Mya — about 3 occurrences283–282 Mya — about 10 occurrences282–280 Mya — about 11 occurrences280–278 Mya — about 11 occurrences278–276 Mya — about 11 occurrences276–274 Mya — about 8 occurrences274–272 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences272–270 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences270–268 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences268–266 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences266–264 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences264–262 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences262–260 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences260–258 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences258–257 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences257–255 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences255–253 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences253–251 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences303.7 Mya259.857 Mya309 Mya251 Mya

74 occurrences of Diplocaulus 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

74 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

19 formations

Vale — 32.94°N, 99.77°WVale — 33.70°N, 99.60°WVale — 33.78°N, 99.47°WVale — 33.60°N, 99.25°WVale — 32.13°N, 99.75°WVale — 32.23°N, 99.83°WVale — 32.98°N, 99.85°WVale — 33.67°N, 99.78°WArroyo — 33.77°N, 99.22°WArroyo — 33.76°N, 99.14°WArroyo — 33.70°N, 99.27°WArroyo — 33.59°N, 99.26°WArroyo — 33.73°N, 99.36°WArroyo — 33.97°N, 99.20°WWellington — 36.16°N, 97.34°WWellington — 36.74°N, 97.42°WWellington — 36.35°N, 97.43°WWellington — 36.30°N, 97.30°WHennessey — 34.19°N, 98.79°WHennessey — 35.17°N, 97.37°WLueders — 33.75°N, 99.12°WLueders — 33.75°N, 99.15°WChoza — 33.82°N, 99.56°WAbo — 35.77°N, 106.69°WAbo — 33.07°N, 107.22°WAbo — 34.30°N, 106.54°WGarber Sandstone — 34.53°N, 98.89°WGarber Sandstone — 34.58°N, 98.85°WAdmiral — 33.62°N, 98.86°WBead Mountain — 34.13°N, 98.62°WWaggoner Ranch — 33.82°N, 98.69°WIkakern — 30.83°N, 9.09°WBond — 40.10°N, 87.83°WCasselman — 40.41°N, 79.79°WChickasha — 35.97°N, 98.32°WBern Limestone — 39.82°N, 95.41°WGarber — 36.66°N, 97.69°WAbo/Cutler — 34.17°N, 106.75°WSangre de Cristo — 34.64°N, 107.18°W

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The named rock units Diplocaulus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Diplocaulus and its relatives

Permian

Where Diplocaulus and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

145 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 45 sites for Diplocaulus, 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

23 references

Each of the 74 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. 11 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 Diplocaulus

Credit
Camelops
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
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
Diplocaulus magnicornis

Synchrotron Imaging scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Diplocaulus magnicornis · AMNH:FARB:4511

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
Tim
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 itDiplocaulidae through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cope 1877