Edaphosaurus

Edaphosaurus is a genus of extinct edaphosaurid synapsids that lived in what is now North America and Europe around 303.4 to 272.5 million years ago, during the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian. The American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope first described Edaphosaurus in 1882, naming it for the "dental pavement" on both the upper and lower jaws, from the Greek edaphos έδαφος and σαῦρος ("lizard").

Edaphosaurus

Jonathan Chen · 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
EdaphosauridaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota
Length
3.5 mWikidata
Mass
300 kgWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 298.9 Mya to 283.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 307 Mya to 251.902 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 4 of 39 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 35 of 39 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 39 occurrences308–306 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences306–304 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences304–302 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences302–300 Mya — about 1 occurrence300–299 Mya — about 2 occurrences299–297 Mya — about 3 occurrences297–295 Mya — about 3 occurrences295–293 Mya — about 3 occurrences293–291 Mya — about 3 occurrences291–289 Mya — about 3 occurrences289–287 Mya — about 4 occurrences287–285 Mya — about 3 occurrences285–283 Mya — about 3 occurrences283–281 Mya — about 2 occurrences281–279 Mya — about 2 occurrences279–278 Mya — about 2 occurrences278–276 Mya — about 2 occurrences276–274 Mya — about 1 occurrence274–272 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences272–270 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences270–268 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences268–266 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences266–264 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences264–262 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences262–260 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences260–258 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences258–257 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences257–255 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences255–253 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences253–251 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences298.9 Mya283.3 Mya308 Mya251 Mya

39 occurrences of Edaphosaurus 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

39 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

21 formations

Arroyo — 33.77°N, 99.22°WArroyo — 33.70°N, 99.27°WNocona — 33.68°N, 98.70°WNocona — 33.72°N, 98.34°WPittsburgh — 40.04°N, 80.63°WPittsburgh — 40.04°N, 80.66°WArcher City — 33.34°N, 98.39°WArcher City — 33.67°N, 98.69°WAdmiral — 33.60°N, 98.63°WAdmiral — 33.62°N, 98.86°WPetrolia — 33.69°N, 99.02°WPetrolia — 33.64°N, 98.90°WBelle Plains — 33.87°N, 98.84°WAbo/Cutler — 36.12°N, 106.62°WAbo/Cutler — 36.16°N, 106.64°WWellington — 36.16°N, 97.34°WWellington — 36.74°N, 97.42°WGarber — 34.30°N, 98.60°WGarber — 36.66°N, 97.69°WPutnam — 33.60°N, 98.63°WHennessey — 34.19°N, 98.79°WLueders — 33.78°N, 99.14°WVale — 33.73°N, 99.56°WCutler — 36.31°N, 106.35°WNiederhäslich-Schweinsdorf — 51.00°N, 13.65°ELaborcita — 33.08°N, 106.08°WPueblo — 33.53°N, 98.41°WHalgaito — 37.29°N, 109.86°WAbo — 34.64°N, 107.18°WGarber Sandstone — 34.58°N, 98.85°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Edaphosaurus 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.

Edaphosaurus and its relatives

Permian

Where Edaphosaurus and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

176 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 32 sites for Edaphosaurus, 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

22 references

Each of the 39 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. 10 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 content3

Picture of Edaphosaurus

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Edaphosaurus sp. · tmm:tmm:31225-various

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
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 itEdaphosauridae through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cope 1882