Lycorhinus

Lycorhinus is a genus of heterodontosaurid ornithischian dinosaur that lived during the Early Jurassic, in the Sinemurian. It is known from a single species L. angustidens, that was named in 1924 by Sidney H. Haughton as a cynodont for a partial jaw found in the Upper Elliot Formation of South Africa. The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek words for "wolf" and "nose". The limited material available, which has degraded over time to only be represented now by a single original tooth and the impression of the remaining jaw and teeth, has resulted in multiple different interpretations of the diagnostic nature and synonymy of Lycorhinus, including the treatmens of the type species of Heterodontosaurus, Abrictosaurus, and Lanasaurus as either species of Lycorhinus or synonyms. The latest review of Lycorhinus accepted the synonymy of Lanasaurus scalpridens, named in 1975 by Christopher Gow for a maxilla from Golden Gate Highlands National Park, with Lycorhinus angustidens, and also the referral of a partial skull found at the same locality as the original holotype decades later. Tentative specimens from the Clarens Formation have also been considered allied with Lycorhinus, but they may be better treated as remains of indeterminate heterodontosaurids.

Lycorhinus

Paul C. Sereno · CC BY 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
HeterodontosaurinaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Ornithischia
Life habit
ground dwelling, gregariousPBDB, for Ornithischia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Ornithischia
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Ornithischia
Length
1.2 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At most 18 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 201.4 Mya and 184.2 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Late Triassic — about 0 of 5 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 5 of 5 occurrencesEarly Jurassic202–201 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences201–201 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences201–200 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences200–199 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences199–199 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences199–198 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences198–198 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences198–197 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences197–196 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences196–196 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences196–195 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences195–195 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences195–194 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences194–193 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences193–193 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences193–192 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences192–192 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences192–191 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences191–190 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences190–190 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences190–189 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences189–189 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences189–188 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences188–187 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences187–187 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences187–186 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences186–186 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences186–185 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences185–184 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences184–184 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences201.9 Mya183.7 Mya

5 occurrences of Lycorhinus on record, most of them in the Early 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

5 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

2 formations

Elliot — 28.50°S, 28.62°EElliot — 30.43°S, 28.52°EClarens — 29.88°S, 27.35°E

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The named rock units Lycorhinus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Lycorhinus and its relatives

Early Jurassic

Where Lycorhinus and its relatives were recorded in the Early Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

1 taxon

The Paleobiology Database records 5 sites for Lycorhinus, 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

4 references

Each of the 5 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 Lycorhinus

Credit
Paul C. Sereno
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itHeterodontosaurinae through timeFormations of the Early JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Haughton 1924