Eilenodon

Eilenodon is an extinct genus of rhynchocephalian reptile from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation of western North America, present in stratigraphic zone 4. The only known species of this genus is Eilenodon robustus. It was a member of a group of rhynchocephalians called the eilenodontines, which were large, herbivorous members of Rhynchocephalia, the order of reptiles which contains the modern tuatara (Sphenodon). The generic name "Eilenodon" is Greek for "packed teeth", in reference to its closely packed teeth. The specific name, "robustus", refers to the strong build of the jaws.

Eilenodon

Marc E. H. Jones, Peter W. Lucas, Abigail S. Tucker, Amy P. Watson, Joseph J. W. Sertich, John R. Foster, Ruth Willia… · CC BY 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
EilenodontinaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At most 12 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 154.8 Mya and 143.1 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Late Jurassic — about 6 of 6 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 0 of 6 occurrences155–154 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences154–154 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences154–154 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences154–153 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences153–153 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences153–152 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences152–152 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences152–151 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences151–151 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences151–151 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences151–150 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences150–150 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences150–149 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences149–149 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences149–149 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences149–148 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences148–148 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences148–147 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences147–147 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences147–146 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences146–146 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences146–146 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences146–145 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences145–145 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences145–144 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences144–144 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences144–143 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences143–143 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences155.3 Mya142.6 Mya

6 occurrences of Eilenodon on record, most of them in the Late Jurassic. 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

6 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

Morrison — 38.54°N, 105.19°WMorrison — 38.81°N, 108.32°WMorrison — 38.32°N, 108.83°WMorrison — 39.15°N, 108.78°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Eilenodon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Eilenodon and its relatives

Late Jurassic

Where Eilenodon and its relatives were recorded in the Late Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

44 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 6 sites for Eilenodon, 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

4 references

Each of the 6 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. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Eilenodon

Credit
Marc E. H. Jones, Peter W. Lucas, Abigail S. Tucker, Amy P. Watson, Joseph J. W. Sertich, John R. Foster, Ruth Willia…
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Eilenodon was found in Sketchfab.

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 itEilenodontinae through timeFormations of the Late JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Rasmussen and Callison 1981