Proterochampsa

Proterochampsa is an extinct genus of proterochampsid archosauriform from the Late Triassic of South America. The genus is the namesake of the family Proterochampsidae, and the broader clade Proterochampsia. Like other proterochampsids, Proterochampsa are quadruped tetrapods superficially similar in appearance to modern crocodiles, although the two groups are not closely related. Proterochampsids can be distinguished from other related archosauriformes by characters such as a dorsoventrally flattened, triangular skull with a long, narrow snout at the anterior end and that expands transversally at the posterior end, asymmetric feet, and a lack of postfrontal bones in the skull, with the nares located near the midline. Proterochampsa is additionally defined by characters of dermal sculpturing consisting of nodular protuberances on the skull, antorbital fenestrae facing dorsally, and a restricted antorbital fossa on the maxilla.

Proterochampsa

Martin D. Ezcurra · 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
ProterochampsinaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Diapsida

Time the record covers

At most 32 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 237 Mya and 205.7 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Middle Triassic — about 0 of 4 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 4 of 4 occurrencesLate Triassic238–237 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences237–235 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences235–234 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences234–233 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences233–232 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences232–231 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences231–230 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences230–229 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences229–228 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences228–227 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences227–226 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences226–225 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences225–224 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences224–222 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences222–221 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences221–220 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences220–219 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences219–218 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences218–217 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences217–216 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences216–215 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences215–214 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences214–213 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences213–212 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences212–210 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences210–209 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences209–208 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences208–207 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences207–206 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences206–205 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences237.6 Mya205.1 Mya

4 occurrences of Proterochampsa 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

4 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

2 formations

Ischigualasto — 29.22°S, 68.70°WIschigualasto — 30.12°S, 67.88°WSanta Maria — 29.70°S, 52.86°W

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

Proterochampsa and its relatives

Late Triassic

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

Found in the same rock

9 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 4 sites for Proterochampsa, 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

3 references

Each of the 4 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 Proterochampsa

Credit
Martin D. Ezcurra
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Proterochampsa was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itProterochampsinae through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Reig 1959