Konzhukovia

Konzhukovia is an amphibian genus that belongs to an extinct family Konzhukoviidae of temnospondyls, the largest clade of basal tetrapods including about 198 genera, 292 species, and more than half of which were alive during the early Mesozoic period. The animal was a predator that lived about 260 million years ago, and could get up to about three meters in length. Specifically, Konzukovia lived during the Permian, between 252 and 270 million years ago according to the type of rock the fossil was found in. There are three species within this genus, K. vetusta, K. tarda, and K. sangabrielensis, the first two originating from Russia while the latest originating from Southern Brazil. The discovery of this specimen in Southern Brazil provided more evidence to support the idea that during this animals existence, there was a “biological corridor” because of the supercontinent Pangea, allowing these species to be found so far apart from each other. Konzhukovia belongs to the family Archegosauridae, a family consisted of large temnospondyls that most likely compare to modern day crocodiles. Since the discovery of the latest species, K. sangabrielensis, Pacheco proposes that there must be the creation of a new family, Konzhokoviidae, a monophyletic group in a sister-group relationship with Stereospondlyi in order to accommodate the three species. Konzhukovia skulls usually exhibit typical rhinesuchid features including an overall parabolic shape, small orbits located more posteriorly, and the pterygoids do not reach the vomer. These animals were long-snouted amphibians that had clear adaptations made for fish catching, as well as exemplifying aquatic features.

Konzhukovia

Dmitry Bogdanov · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
KonzhukoviidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Temnospondyli
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB, for Temnospondyli
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Temnospondyli
Environment
brackish,freshwater,terrestrialPBDB, for Tetrapoda

Time the record covers

At most 13 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 266.9 Mya and 254.14 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Permian — about 6 of 6 occurrencesPermian267–266 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences266–266 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences266–266 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences266–265 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences265–265 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences265–264 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences264–264 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences264–263 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences263–263 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences263–262 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences262–262 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences262–261 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences261–261 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences261–261 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences261–260 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences260–260 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences260–259 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences259–259 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences259–258 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences258–258 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences258–257 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences257–257 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences257–256 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences256–256 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences256–255 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences255–255 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences255–255 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences255–254 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences267.4 Mya253.6 Mya

6 occurrences of Konzhukovia 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

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

3 formations

Rio do Rasto — 24.00°S, 51.11°WRio do Rasto — 30.00°S, 54.09°WBolshekinelskaya — 52.44°N, 54.47°EAmanakskaya — 52.66°N, 53.48°E

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The named rock units Konzhukovia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Konzhukovia and its relatives

Permian

Where Konzhukovia and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

13 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 2 sites for Konzhukovia, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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

5 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. 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 Konzhukovia

Credit
Dmitry Bogdanov
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Konzhukovia was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itKonzhukoviidae through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gubin 1991