Prodesmodon

Prodesmodon is an extinct genus of prehistoric salamander, first described from the Lance Formation.

Prodesmodon

via iDigBio · CC BY-NC-SA · via iDigBio. 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
BatrachosauroididaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Temnospondyli
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Temnospondyli
Environment
terrestrialPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 6.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 72.2 Mya to 66 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 83.6 Mya to 63.4 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 34 of 38 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 4 of 38 occurrencesPaleocene84–83 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences83–83 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences81–81 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences80–79 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences79–78 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences78–78 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences76–76 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences74–74 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences73–72 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 3 occurrences71–71 Mya — about 3 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 3 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 3 occurrences69–69 Mya — about 3 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 3 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 3 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 3 occurrences66–66 Mya — about 2 occurrences66–65 Mya — about 1 occurrence65–64 Mya — about 1 occurrence64–64 Mya — about 1 occurrence64–63 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences72.2 Mya66 Mya84.1 Mya62.9 Mya

38 occurrences of Prodesmodon on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. 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

38 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

13 formations

Lance — 43.12°N, 104.64°WLance — 41.57°N, 108.67°WLance — 43.18°N, 104.53°WLance — 43.15°N, 104.57°WLance — 43.13°N, 104.49°WLance — 43.80°N, 104.62°WHell Creek — 47.80°N, 106.10°WHell Creek — 47.61°N, 106.90°WHell Creek — 47.27°N, 107.13°WHell Creek — 46.33°N, 103.90°WHell Creek — 45.05°N, 101.97°WHell Creek — 47.60°N, 107.00°WFruitland — 36.49°N, 108.49°WFruitland — 36.27°N, 108.21°WJudith River — 47.81°N, 109.59°WJudith River — 47.73°N, 108.95°WFort Union — 47.60°N, 107.00°WMesaverde — 42.85°N, 107.28°WTullock — 47.80°N, 106.10°WFrenchman — 49.30°N, 108.40°WHarebell — 43.81°N, 110.23°WKirtland — 36.30°N, 108.20°WKaiparowits — 37.80°N, 111.50°WWilliams Fork — 39.93°N, 108.82°WHorseshoe Canyon — 52.00°N, 112.88°W

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The named rock units Prodesmodon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Prodesmodon and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Prodesmodon and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

417 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 31 sites for Prodesmodon, 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

14 references

Each of the 38 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. 2 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 Prodesmodon

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
CC BY-NC-SA
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

No 3D scan of Prodesmodon was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itBatrachosauroididae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Estes 1964