Gnathorhizidae

The Gnathorhizidae are an extinct family of lungfish that lived from the late Carboniferous until the middle Triassic. Gnathorhizid fossils have been found in North America, Madagascar, Australia, and possibly Eastern Europe and South Africa. They are characterized by high-ridged toothplates that form cutting blades and a reduction in cranial bones.

Gnathorhizidae

DiBgd · 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
DipnoiPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
lagoonal,marine,brackish,freshwaterPBDB, for Dipnoi

Time the record covers

At least 63 million years on record.

The record covers at least 314.6 Mya to 250.8 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 318.7 Mya to 247 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 4 of 40 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 30 of 40 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 6 of 40 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 0 of 40 occurrences320–318 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences318–315 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences315–313 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences313–310 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences310–308 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences308–305 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences305–303 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences303–300 Mya — about 1 occurrence300–298 Mya — about 2 occurrences298–295 Mya — about 2 occurrences295–293 Mya — about 2 occurrences293–290 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences290–288 Mya — about 1 occurrence288–285 Mya — about 1 occurrence285–283 Mya — about 2 occurrences283–280 Mya — about 4 occurrences280–278 Mya — about 4 occurrences278–275 Mya — about 4 occurrences275–273 Mya — about 2 occurrences268–265 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences265–263 Mya — about 1 occurrence263–260 Mya — about 2 occurrences260–258 Mya — about 1 occurrence258–256 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences253–251 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences251–248 Mya — about 4 occurrences248–246 Mya — about 1 occurrence314.6 Mya250.8 Mya320 Mya246 Mya

40 occurrences of Gnathorhizidae 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

40 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

18 formations

Vale — 33.70°N, 99.60°WVale — 33.78°N, 99.47°WVale — 32.13°N, 99.75°WEskridge — 40.15°N, 95.88°WWellington — 36.16°N, 97.34°WWellington — 36.35°N, 97.43°WWellington — 36.34°N, 97.33°WAbo — 35.77°N, 106.69°WAbo — 34.64°N, 107.18°WAbo — 34.30°N, 106.54°WHennessey — 34.19°N, 98.79°WHennessey — 35.17°N, 97.37°WLueders — 33.75°N, 99.15°WLueders — 33.75°N, 99.12°WGarber — 36.77°N, 97.77°WGarber — 36.66°N, 97.69°WRybinsk — 58.02°N, 39.04°EBlack Prince Limestone — 31.73°N, 109.57°WCharkabozh — 69.28°N, 49.93°EChoza — 33.82°N, 99.56°WBern Limestone — 39.82°N, 95.41°WCutler — 36.31°N, 106.35°WSangre de Cristo — 34.64°N, 107.18°WRio do Rasto — 30.02°S, 54.15°WKutulukskaya — 53.31°N, 52.31°EMiddle Sakamena — 13.20°S, 49.05°ECarbondale — 41.00°N, 88.00°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Gnathorhizidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Gnathorhizidae and its relatives

Permian

Where Gnathorhizidae and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

213 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 28 sites for Gnathorhizidae, 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

24 references

Each of the 40 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. 12 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 content1

Picture of Gnathorhizidae

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

No 3D scan of Gnathorhizidae 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 itDipnoi through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Miles 1977