Lystrosaurus

Lystrosaurus is an extinct genus of herbivorous dicynodont therapsids from the late Permian and Early Triassic epochs. It had a widespread distribution across Pangaea, with fossils having been found in what is now Antarctica, India, China, Mongolia, European Russia, South Africa, and possibly Australia and Mozambique. Four to six species are currently recognized, but from the 1930s to 1970s the number of species was thought to be much higher.

Lystrosaurus

Rama · CC BY-SA 2.0 fr · 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
LystrosauridaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 9 million years on record.

The record covers at least 259.857 Mya to 250.8 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 264.28 Mya to 247 Mya.

Permian — about 7 of 124 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 117 of 124 occurrencesEarly TriassicMiddle Triassic — about 0 of 124 occurrences265–264 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences264–264 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences264–263 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences263–262 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences262–262 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences262–261 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences261–261 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences261–260 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences260–259 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences259–259 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences259–258 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences258–257 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences257–257 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences257–256 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences256–256 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences256–255 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences255–254 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences254–254 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences254–253 Mya — about 1 occurrence253–253 Mya — about 1 occurrence253–252 Mya — about 1 occurrence252–251 Mya — about 26 occurrences251–251 Mya — about 28 occurrences251–250 Mya — about 12 occurrences250–250 Mya — about 12 occurrences250–249 Mya — about 12 occurrences249–248 Mya — about 10 occurrences248–248 Mya — about 8 occurrences248–247 Mya — about 8 occurrences247–247 Mya — about 1 occurrence259.857 Mya250.8 Mya264.8 Mya246.5 Mya

124 occurrences of Lystrosaurus on record, most of them in the Early Triassic. 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

124 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

9 formations

Katberg — 30.50°S, 25.97°EKatberg — 30.47°S, 26.06°EKatberg — 31.18°S, 24.95°EKatberg — 32.00°S, 26.26°EKatberg — 31.73°S, 25.30°EKatberg — 31.87°S, 24.55°EKatberg — 32.12°S, 25.70°EKatberg — 31.84°S, 24.86°EKatberg — 32.18°S, 25.61°EKatberg — 32.29°S, 27.10°EPanchet — 23.63°N, 86.97°EPanchet — 23.65°N, 86.88°EPanchet — 23.67°N, 86.98°EPanchet — 23.62°N, 87.13°ENormandien — 28.27°S, 29.13°ENormandien — 28.55°S, 29.08°EBalfour — 31.72°S, 24.98°EBalfour — 33.00°S, 20.45°EBalfour — 30.50°S, 25.97°EBalfour — 30.42°S, 26.27°EBalfour — 31.71°S, 24.52°EJiucaiyuan — 43.98°N, 89.70°EJiucaiyuan — 44.00°N, 88.83°EJiucaiyuan — 43.20°N, 89.22°EFremouw — 85.13°S, 174.83°WFremouw — 85.22°S, 175.50°WFremouw — 85.05°S, 172.50°EGuodikeng — 44.00°N, 88.83°EGuodikeng — 42.92°N, 89.17°EVokhmian — 56.94°N, 45.26°EAbrahamskraal — 31.40°S, 23.12°E

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The named rock units Lystrosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 31 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Lystrosaurus and its relatives

Early Triassic

Where Lystrosaurus and its relatives were recorded in the Early Triassic.

Found in the same rock

60 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 50 sites for Lystrosaurus, 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

33 references

Each of the 124 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. 21 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 Lystrosaurus

Credit
Rama
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0 fr
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Lystrosaurus declivis · nmb:r:815

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
kenchoo
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itLystrosauridae through timeFormations of the Early TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cope 1870