Dissorophus

Dissorophus (DI-soh-ROH-fus) is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian that lived during the Early Permian Period about 273 million years ago. Its fossils have been found in Texas and in Oklahoma in North America. Its heavy armor and robust build indicate Dissorophus was active on land, similar to other members of the clade Dissorophidae that are known from the Late Carboniferous to the Early Permian periods. Dissorophus is distinguished by its small body size, disproportionately large head and short trunk.

Dissorophus

Ghedoghedo · Public Domain · 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
DissorophinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Olsoniformes
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Olsoniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Temnospondyli
Environment
brackish,freshwater,terrestrialPBDB, for Tetrapoda

Time the record covers

At most 25 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 298.9 Mya and 274.4 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Carboniferous — about 0 of 8 occurrencesPermian — about 8 of 8 occurrencesPermian299–299 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences299–298 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences298–297 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences297–296 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences296–295 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences295–294 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences294–293 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences293–293 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences293–292 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences292–291 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences291–290 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences290–289 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences289–288 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences288–288 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences288–287 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences287–286 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences286–285 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences285–284 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences284–283 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences283–282 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences282–282 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences282–281 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences281–280 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences280–279 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences279–278 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences278–277 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences277–276 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences276–276 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences276–275 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences275–274 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences299.4 Mya273.9 Mya

8 occurrences of Dissorophus 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

8 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

Arroyo — 33.77°N, 99.22°WArroyo — 33.76°N, 99.14°WArroyo — 33.71°N, 99.31°W

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The named rock units Dissorophus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Dissorophus and its relatives

Permian

Where Dissorophus and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

94 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 7 sites for Dissorophus, 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

7 references

Each of the 8 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 Dissorophus

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

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

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 itDissorophinae through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cope 1895