Dyrosauridae

Dyrosauridae is a family of extinct neosuchian crocodyliforms that lived from the Campanian to the Eocene. Dyrosaurid fossils are globally distributed, having been found in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America. Over a dozen species are currently known, varying greatly in overall size and cranial shape, though typically with an elongate gharial-like snout. A majority were aquatic, some terrestrial and others fully marine with species inhabiting both freshwater and marine environments. Ocean-dwelling dyrosaurids were among the few marine reptiles to survive the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.

Dyrosauridae

Stéphane Jouve, Mohamed Iarochčne, Baâdi Bouya, and Mbarek Amaghzaz · 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
DyrosauroideaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Pseudosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mesoeucrocodylia

Time the record covers

At least 59 million years on record.

The record covers at least 100.5 Mya to 41.03 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 113.2 Mya to 33.9 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 1 of 110 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 25 of 110 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 69 of 110 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 15 of 110 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 110 occurrences115–112 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences112–109 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences109–107 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences107–104 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences104–101 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences101–98 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences82–79 Mya — about 1 occurrence79–76 Mya — about 1 occurrence76–74 Mya — about 1 occurrence74–71 Mya — about 5 occurrences71–68 Mya — about 9 occurrences68–65 Mya — about 11 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 18 occurrences63–60 Mya — about 17 occurrences60–57 Mya — about 20 occurrences57–54 Mya — about 11 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 5 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 5 occurrences49–46 Mya — about 1 occurrence43–41 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences41–38 Mya — about 1 occurrence38–35 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences35–32 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences100.5 Mya41.03 Mya115 Mya32 Mya

110 occurrences of Dyrosauridae on record, most of them in the Paleocene. 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

110 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

30 formations

Umm Himar — 21.17°N, 41.42°EUmm Himar — 21.18°N, 41.50°EHornerstown — 39.76°N, 75.13°WHornerstown — 40.13°N, 74.51°WHornerstown — 39.97°N, 74.68°WHornerstown — 39.76°N, 75.16°WHornerstown — 40.12°N, 74.55°WHornerstown — 39.82°N, 75.01°WHornerstown — 40.30°N, 74.10°WSanta Lucía — 18.03°S, 65.58°WSanta Lucía — 18.13°S, 65.76°WSanta Lucía — 18.03°S, 65.78°WCerrejón — 11.15°N, 72.55°WCerrejón — 11.15°N, 72.55°WCerrejón — 11.14°N, 72.56°WGafsa Phosphates — 34.33°N, 8.41°EMaria Farinha — 7.91°S, 34.85°WCouche II — 32.68°N, 6.72°WCouche II — 32.72°N, 6.78°WWadi Milk — 16.70°N, 31.14°EDange — 13.32°N, 5.40°ETamaguélelt — 17.59°N, 0.25°ETamaguélelt — 17.59°N, 0.25°EContinental Intercalaire — 29.25°N, 0.25°EDuwi — 25.20°N, 32.70°EDukamaje — 13.57°N, 5.67°ELandana — 5.22°S, 12.14°ELakhra — 26.17°N, 67.88°EWilliamsburg — 33.43°N, 80.10°WAdaffa — 28.13°N, 35.28°EClayton — 32.12°N, 87.26°WNew Egypt — 39.73°N, 75.16°WLameta — 17.33°N, 77.78°EPondaung — 22.00°N, 95.30°EInfratrappean Beds — 17.35°N, 77.70°EMénaka — 18.33°N, 2.00°ECambay Shale — 21.35°N, 73.07°E

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The named rock units Dyrosauridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 6 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 30 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Dyrosauridae and its relatives

Paleocene

Where Dyrosauridae and its relatives were recorded in the Paleocene.

Found in the same rock

558 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 91 sites for Dyrosauridae, 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

55 references

Each of the 110 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. 43 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 content2

Picture of Dyrosauridae

Credit
Stéphane Jouve, Mohamed Iarochčne, Baâdi Bouya, and Mbarek Amaghzaz
Licence
CC BY 2.0
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 and MorphoSource were 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 itDyrosauroidea through timeFormations of the PaleoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Stefano 1903)