Phosphatosaurus

Phosphatosaurus is an extinct genus of dyrosaurid crocodylomorph. It existed during the early Eocene, with fossils having been found from North Africa in Tunisia and Mali. Named in 1955, Phosphatosaurus is a monotypic genus; the type species is P. gavialoides. A specimen has been discovered from Niger, but it cannot be classified at the species level.

Phosphatosaurus

LiterallyMiguel · CC BY 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
PhosphatosaurinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Pseudosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mesoeucrocodylia

Time the record covers

At least 10 million years on record.

The record covers at least 66 Mya to 56 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 83.6 Mya to 48.07 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 1 of 6 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 3 of 6 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 2 of 6 occurrencesEocene84–83 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences81–79 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences79–78 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences76–74 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences73–72 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences70–68 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences66–65 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences63–62 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences62–61 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences61–60 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences60–58 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences58–57 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences57–56 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences66 Mya56 Mya84.3 Mya47.4 Mya

6 occurrences of Phosphatosaurus on record, most of them in the Paleocene. 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

4 formations

Duwi — 25.20°N, 32.70°EGafsa Phosphates — 34.33°N, 8.41°EUmm Himar — 21.17°N, 41.42°ETamaguélelt — 17.59°N, 0.25°E

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The named rock units Phosphatosaurus 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.

Phosphatosaurus and its relatives

Paleocene

Where Phosphatosaurus and its relatives were recorded in the Paleocene.

Found in the same rock

32 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 6 sites for Phosphatosaurus, 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

4 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 Phosphatosaurus

Credit
LiterallyMiguel
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Phosphatosaurus was found in Smithsonian Open Access and Sketchfab.

MorphoSource 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 itPhosphatosaurinae through timeFormations of the PaleoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bergounioux 1955