Prosauropoda

Sauropodomorpha is an extinct clade of saurischian dinosaurs that includes the long-necked, herbivorous sauropods and their ancestral relatives. Early, more basal sauropodomorphs were bipedal, and the earliest show evidence of omnivorous or carnivorous diets. Over time, sauropodomorph evolution resulted in a shift to herbivorous diets, larger body sizes, and quadrupedal locomotion. The sauropods themselves generally grew to very large sizes, had long necks and tails, and became the largest animals to ever walk the Earth. The sauropods were the dominant terrestrial herbivores throughout much of the Mesozoic Era, from their origins in the Late Triassic until their decline and extinction at the end of the Cretaceous.

Prosauropoda

AbstractionBlue · 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
Also called
prosauropodPBDB
Sits inside
AnchisauriaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 44 million years on record.

The record covers at least 237 Mya to 192.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 247 Mya to 174.7 Mya.

Early Triassic — about 0 of 167 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 2 of 167 occurrencesMiddle TriassicLate Triassic — about 86 of 167 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 79 of 167 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 0 of 167 occurrences248–246 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences246–243 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences243–241 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences241–238 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences238–236 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences236–233 Mya — about 1 occurrence233–231 Mya — about 2 occurrences231–228 Mya — about 2 occurrences228–226 Mya — about 5 occurrences226–223 Mya — about 7 occurrences223–221 Mya — about 7 occurrences221–218 Mya — about 7 occurrences218–216 Mya — about 7 occurrences216–213 Mya — about 8 occurrences213–211 Mya — about 8 occurrences211–208 Mya — about 7 occurrences208–206 Mya — about 7 occurrences206–203 Mya — about 10 occurrences203–201 Mya — about 15 occurrences201–198 Mya — about 21 occurrences198–196 Mya — about 14 occurrences196–193 Mya — about 14 occurrences193–191 Mya — about 5 occurrences191–188 Mya — about 4 occurrences188–186 Mya — about 4 occurrences186–183 Mya — about 3 occurrences183–181 Mya — about 2 occurrences181–178 Mya — about 2 occurrences178–176 Mya — about 2 occurrences176–173 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences237 Mya192.9 Mya248 Mya173 Mya

167 occurrences of Prosauropoda on record, most of them in the Late 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

167 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

51 formations

Elliot — 28.52°S, 28.42°EElliot — 28.62°S, 28.22°EElliot — 30.62°S, 27.17°EElliot — 31.08°S, 28.37°EElliot — 30.53°S, 27.42°EElliot — 31.08°S, 26.78°EElliot — 26.18°S, 25.58°EElliot — 30.95°S, 26.62°EElliot — 28.52°S, 29.17°EElliot — 30.18°S, 28.59°EElliot — 30.50°S, 27.53°ELufeng — 25.68°N, 104.08°ELufeng — 25.18°N, 102.09°ELufeng — 25.14°N, 101.96°ELufeng — 25.15°N, 102.06°ELufeng — 24.96°N, 102.08°EElliot — 29.36°S, 27.61°EElliot — 30.36°S, 27.55°EElliot — 30.35°S, 27.60°EElliot — 30.21°S, 27.48°ETrossingen — 51.90°N, 11.07°ETrossingen — 48.07°N, 8.65°ETrossingen — 48.53°N, 9.05°ETrossingen — 48.75°N, 9.17°ETrossingen — 49.08°N, 9.46°EPortland — 41.81°N, 72.55°WPortland — 41.90°N, 72.57°WPortland — 42.61°N, 72.51°WPortland — 42.28°N, 72.56°WPortland — 41.57°N, 72.64°WForest Sandstone — 19.97°S, 28.40°EForest Sandstone — 19.28°S, 27.65°EForest Sandstone — 16.22°S, 30.10°EForest Sandstone — 19.74°S, 28.36°EForest Sandstone — 22.14°S, 29.57°ENavajo Sandstone — 36.73°N, 109.88°WNavajo Sandstone — 37.00°N, 112.01°WNavajo Sandstone — 37.03°N, 111.20°WNavajo Sandstone — 37.00°N, 112.81°WNavajo Sandstone — 37.03°N, 111.36°WNavajo Sandstone — 37.38°N, 110.73°WChinle — 38.65°N, 108.91°WChinle — 38.00°N, 111.13°WChinle — 34.94°N, 109.76°WChinle — 34.81°N, 109.88°WMcCoy Brook — 45.40°N, 64.22°WMcCoy Brook — 45.40°N, 64.11°WMarnes irisées supérieures — 46.84°N, 5.66°EMarnes irisées supérieures — 46.77°N, 5.60°EMarnes irisées supérieures — 47.25°N, 6.03°EMarnes irisées supérieures — 45.95°N, 5.43°EMarnes irisées supérieures — 46.91°N, 5.90°EDolomia Principale — 46.31°N, 12.45°EDolomia Principale — 46.42°N, 12.11°EDolomia Principale — 46.31°N, 12.60°ERedonda — 34.98°N, 103.64°WRedonda — 34.95°N, 103.43°WRedonda — 34.95°N, 103.44°WNavajo-Nugget Sandstone — 40.44°N, 109.29°WNavajo-Nugget Sandstone — 42.09°N, 111.26°WClarens — 29.20°S, 27.45°EClarens — 30.97°S, 27.60°EClarens — 28.52°S, 27.93°EMolteno — 30.37°S, 27.52°EMolteno — 30.38°S, 27.56°EMolteno — 30.29°S, 27.51°EClarens — 28.88°S, 28.05°EClarens — 30.35°S, 27.75°EGrès de Mortinsart — 49.70°N, 5.66°EGrès de Mortinsart — 49.71°N, 5.62°EBushveld Sandstone — 23.83°S, 28.25°EBushveld Sandstone — 22.83°S, 29.33°EMarnes de Châlins — 46.67°N, 5.55°EMarnes de Châlins — 46.91°N, 5.67°EZhenzhuchong — 27.00°N, 107.00°EZhenzhuchong — 29.55°N, 104.65°ELos Colorados — 29.78°S, 67.93°WLos Colorados — 30.05°S, 67.63°WWingate Sandstone — 37.86°N, 111.31°WWingate Sandstone — 38.65°N, 108.99°WEtjo — 21.42°S, 16.65°EEtjo — 20.07°S, 18.08°ENugget Sandstone — 40.43°N, 109.26°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Prosauropoda has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 27 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 15 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Prosauropoda and its relatives

Late Triassic

Where Prosauropoda and its relatives were recorded in the Late Triassic.

Found in the same rock

346 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 149 sites for Prosauropoda, 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

105 references

Each of the 167 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. 93 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 Prosauropoda

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

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itAnchisauria through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Huene 1920)