Megapnosaurus

Megapnosaurus is an extinct monospecific genus of coelophysid theropod dinosaur that lived around 199-188 million years ago during the early part of the Jurassic Period in what is now Africa. The species was a small to medium-sized, lightly built, ground-dwelling, bipedal carnivore, that could grow up to 2.2 m (7.2 ft) long and weigh up to 13 kg (29 lb).

Megapnosaurus

TotalDino · 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
CoelophysidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Theropoda
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Theropoda

Time the record covers

At least 1.9 million years on record.

The record covers at least 201.4 Mya to 199.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 237 Mya to 192.9 Mya.

Middle Triassic — about 0 of 8 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 1 of 8 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 7 of 8 occurrencesEarly Jurassic238–236 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences236–235 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences235–233 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences233–232 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences232–230 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences230–229 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences229–227 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences227–226 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences226–224 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences224–223 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences223–221 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences221–220 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences220–218 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences218–216 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences216–215 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences215–213 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences213–212 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences212–210 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences210–209 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences209–207 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences207–206 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences206–204 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences204–203 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences203–201 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences201–200 Mya — about 2 occurrences200–198 Mya — about 1 occurrence198–197 Mya — about 1 occurrence197–195 Mya — about 1 occurrence195–194 Mya — about 1 occurrence194–192 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences201.4 Mya – 199.5 Mya237.9 Mya192 Mya

8 occurrences of Megapnosaurus 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

8 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

5 formations

Forest Sandstone — 16.22°S, 30.10°EForest Sandstone — 19.97°S, 28.41°EForest Sandstone — 16.12°S, 29.50°ENyamandhlovu Sandstones — 19.80°S, 28.58°EElliot — 28.35°S, 25.68°ELufeng — 25.17°N, 102.11°EMoenave — 37.10°N, 113.54°W

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The named rock units Megapnosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Megapnosaurus and its relatives

Early Jurassic

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

Found in the same rock

22 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 8 sites for Megapnosaurus, 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

8 references

Each of the 8 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 content2

Picture of Megapnosaurus

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

Photography scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis · BP/8/0008 (BP008)

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 itCoelophysidae through timeFormations of the Early JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Ivie et al. 2001