Mastodonsauridae

Mastodonsauridae is a family of capitosauroid temnospondyls. Fossils belonging to this family have been found in North America, Greenland, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The family Capitosauridae is synonymous with Mastodonsauridae.

Mastodonsauridae

Ghedoghedo · 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
CapitosauroideaPBDB
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 least 45 million years on record.

The record covers at least 250.8 Mya to 205.7 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 251.902 Mya to 201.4 Mya.

Permian — about 0 of 67 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 24 of 67 occurrencesEarly TriassicMiddle Triassic — about 33 of 67 occurrencesMiddle TriassicLate Triassic — about 10 of 67 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 67 occurrences253–251 Mya — about 3 occurrences251–249 Mya — about 7 occurrences249–248 Mya — about 10 occurrences248–246 Mya — about 11 occurrences246–244 Mya — about 9 occurrences244–242 Mya — about 7 occurrences242–241 Mya — about 5 occurrences241–239 Mya — about 2 occurrences239–237 Mya — about 4 occurrences237–235 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences235–234 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences234–232 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences232–230 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences230–228 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences228–227 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences227–225 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences225–223 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences223–221 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences221–220 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences220–218 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences218–216 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences216–214 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences214–213 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences213–211 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences211–209 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences209–207 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences207–206 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences206–204 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences204–202 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences202–200 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences250.8 Mya205.7 Mya253 Mya200 Mya

67 occurrences of Mastodonsauridae on record, most of them in the Middle 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

67 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

34 formations

Burgersdorp — 30.88°S, 26.22°EBurgersdorp — 31.00°S, 26.33°EBurgersdorp — 28.33°S, 27.63°EBurgersdorp — 28.18°S, 27.96°EBurgersdorp — 30.91°S, 26.11°EBurgersdorp — 30.68°S, 26.70°EBurgersdorp — 30.42°S, 26.84°EKongressfjellet — 78.28°N, 17.63°EKongressfjellet — 78.58°N, 15.38°EKongressfjellet — 78.57°N, 15.32°EKongressfjellet — 78.25°N, 17.84°EOtter Sandstone — 50.67°N, 3.27°WErfurt — 49.21°N, 9.68°EErfurt — 49.00°N, 9.77°EErfurt — 49.08°N, 9.89°EErfurt — 49.07°N, 9.76°EMoenkopi — 35.04°N, 111.03°WMoenkopi — 35.07°N, 110.87°WElliot — 28.42°S, 28.50°EElliot — 28.68°S, 28.32°ESukhorechka — 51.87°N, 54.50°EUpper Buntsandstein — 48.72°N, 8.73°EUpper Buntsandstein — 48.07°N, 8.46°EMalmros Klint — 71.38°N, 22.57°WBromsgrove Sandstone — 52.30°N, 1.52°WBuena Vista — 32.31°S, 54.12°WDonguz — 52.41°N, 55.65°EBukobay — 51.62°N, 55.97°ERöttone — 50.24°N, 11.32°EPartnach — 47.09°N, 9.69°EBenkersandstein — 50.02°N, 11.62°ENtawere — 10.75°S, 33.08°EOmingonde — 21.10°S, 16.45°EElliot — 30.30°S, 27.48°EBulgo Sandstone — 33.73°S, 151.32°ETerrigal — 33.51°S, 151.42°EHawkesbury Sandstone — 33.75°S, 151.25°EDenwa — 22.60°N, 78.57°EWordy Creek — 74.03°N, 21.69°W

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The named rock units Mastodonsauridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 9 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Mastodonsauridae and its relatives

Middle Triassic

Where Mastodonsauridae and its relatives were recorded in the Middle Triassic.

Found in the same rock

212 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 61 sites for Mastodonsauridae, 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

41 references

Each of the 67 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. 29 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 Mastodonsauridae

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

No 3D scan of Mastodonsauridae 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 itCapitosauroidea through timeFormations of the Middle TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lydekker 1885