Procolophonidae

Procolophonidae is an extinct family of small, lizard-like procolophonian "parareptiles" known from the Late Permian to Late Triassic that were distributed across Pangaea, having been reported from Europe, North America, China, South Africa, South America, Antarctica, and Australia.

Procolophonidae

Marta Zaher, Robert A. Coram, Michael J. Benton · 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
ProcolophonoideaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 51 million years on record.

The record covers at least 256.8 Mya to 205.7 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 264.28 Mya to 174.7 Mya.

Permian — about 3 of 137 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 71 of 137 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 28 of 137 occurrencesMiddle TriassicLate Triassic — about 34 of 137 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 137 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 0 of 137 occurrences266–263 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences263–260 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences260–257 Mya — about 1 occurrence257–254 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences254–251 Mya — about 22 occurrences251–247 Mya — about 44 occurrences247–244 Mya — about 22 occurrences244–241 Mya — about 11 occurrences241–238 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences238–235 Mya — about 3 occurrences235–232 Mya — about 4 occurrences232–229 Mya — about 4 occurrences229–226 Mya — about 3 occurrences226–223 Mya — about 2 occurrences223–219 Mya — about 2 occurrences219–216 Mya — about 2 occurrences216–213 Mya — about 2 occurrences213–210 Mya — about 2 occurrences210–207 Mya — about 2 occurrences207–204 Mya — about 5 occurrences204–201 Mya — about 6 occurrences201–198 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences198–195 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences195–192 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences192–188 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences188–185 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences185–182 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences182–179 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences179–176 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences176–173 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences256.8 Mya205.7 Mya266 Mya173 Mya

137 occurrences of Procolophonidae 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

137 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

48 formations

Katberg — 32.11°S, 26.51°EKatberg — 32.20°S, 26.12°EKatberg — 32.29°S, 27.10°EKatberg — 31.60°S, 25.45°EKatberg — 30.50°S, 25.97°EKatberg — 31.18°S, 24.95°EKatberg — 32.00°S, 26.26°EKatberg — 30.59°S, 26.37°EKatberg — 31.50°S, 25.00°EBurgersdorp — 30.68°S, 26.70°EBurgersdorp — 30.62°S, 26.61°EBurgersdorp — 30.91°S, 26.11°EBurgersdorp — 30.42°S, 26.83°EBurgersdorp — 28.18°S, 27.96°ESanga do Cabral — 29.62°S, 54.39°WSanga do Cabral — 29.83°S, 54.23°WSanga do Cabral — 29.62°S, 55.05°WWolfville — 45.14°N, 64.32°WWolfville — 45.32°N, 63.79°WWolfville — 45.30°N, 63.75°WWolfville — 45.22°N, 64.00°WWolfville — 45.40°N, 63.96°WPetropavlovka — 52.03°N, 55.64°EPetropavlovka — 50.81°N, 55.24°EPetropavlovka — 51.39°N, 55.28°EFremouw — 85.22°S, 177.00°WFremouw — 85.22°S, 175.50°WFremouw — 85.13°S, 174.83°WFremouw — 85.05°S, 172.50°EChinle — 34.68°N, 109.58°WChinle — 37.80°N, 109.54°WChinle — 35.65°N, 111.12°WChinle — 34.44°N, 109.46°WHeshanggou — 39.68°N, 110.97°EHeshanggou — 39.53°N, 110.98°EHeshanggou — 39.38°N, 111.06°ECharkabozh — 65.45°N, 52.11°ECharkabozh — 69.28°N, 49.93°EPassaic — 40.89°N, 74.17°WPassaic — 40.86°N, 74.14°WPassaic — 40.85°N, 74.14°WBalfour — 31.72°S, 24.98°EBalfour — 31.87°S, 24.55°EBalfour — 33.00°S, 20.45°EOtter Sandstone — 50.68°N, 3.23°WOtter Sandstone — 50.67°N, 3.27°WErmaying — 39.68°N, 110.97°EErmaying — 37.08°N, 113.00°EErmaying — 38.82°N, 110.99°ETecovas — 33.45°N, 101.17°WLossiemouth Sandstone — 57.72°N, 3.29°WYarenskian — 62.06°N, 49.56°EVokhminskaya — 57.88°N, 45.91°ESolling — 50.45°N, 10.65°ESolling — 50.33°N, 11.03°EKzylsaiskaya — 52.35°N, 52.66°EKzylsaiskaya — 52.22°N, 53.34°ELipovskaya — 49.26°N, 43.67°ELestanshor — 68.62°N, 62.72°EPizhmomezenskoi — 64.56°N, 48.78°EPizhmomezenskoi — 64.56°N, 48.05°EArcadia — 24.83°S, 148.00°EArcadia — 23.64°S, 148.90°EKopanskaya — 52.79°N, 52.44°EKopanskaya — 52.85°N, 50.43°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Procolophonidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 24 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 20 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Procolophonidae and its relatives

Early Triassic

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

Found in the same rock

446 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 88 sites for Procolophonidae, 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

81 references

Each of the 137 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. 69 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 content2

Picture of Procolophonidae

Credit
Marta Zaher, Robert A. Coram, Michael J. Benton
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Procolophonidae indet. · NHMUK:PAL:PV R 38804

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 itProcolophonoidea through timeFormations of the Early TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lydekker 1889