Purussaurus

Purussaurus is a genus of extinct giant caimans that lived in the Americas during the Miocene epoch, from the Friasian to the Huayquerian in the SALMA classification. It is known from skull material found in the Brazilian and Peruvian Amazon, Argentina, Colombian Villavieja Formation, Panamanian Culebra Formation, Urumaco, and Socorro Formations of northern Venezuela.

Purussaurus

Tito Aureliano, Aline M. Ghilardi, Edson Guilherme, Jonas P. Souza-Filho, Mauro Cavalcanti, Douglas Riff · CC BY 2.5 · 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
JacareaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Crocodylia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mesoeucrocodylia
Length
10.3 mWikidata
Mass
5.16 tonneWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 20 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 2.58 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Paleocene — about 0 of 62 occurrencesEocene — about 2 of 62 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 62 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 57 of 62 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 62 occurrencesPleistocene — about 1 of 62 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 4 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 5 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 6 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 11 occurrences11–9.5 Mya — about 10 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 9 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 7 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences23.04 Mya2.58 Mya57 Mya0 Mya

62 occurrences of Purussaurus on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

62 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

Urumaco — 11.22°N, 70.24°WUrumaco — 11.24°N, 70.31°WUrumaco — 11.25°N, 70.23°WPebas — 3.99°S, 73.17°WPebas — 4.01°S, 73.37°WPebas — 4.30°S, 73.46°WPebas — 7.36°S, 74.96°WPebas — 2.81°S, 73.55°WPebas — 3.74°S, 73.25°WSolimões — 10.13°S, 67.81°WSolimões — 10.95°S, 69.66°WSolimões — 10.95°S, 69.65°WSolimões — 10.94°S, 69.52°WSolimões — 10.94°S, 69.31°WSolimões — 8.37°S, 72.81°WSolimões — 11.00°S, 68.77°WSolimoes — 8.18°S, 70.48°WSolimoes — 10.12°S, 66.88°WSolimoes — 10.94°S, 69.34°WCastillo — 10.37°N, 70.07°WCulebra — 9.05°N, 79.66°WCulebra — 9.02°N, 79.62°WVillavieja — 3.26°N, 75.17°WVillavieja — 3.25°N, 75.17°WSocorro — 11.19°N, 70.15°WChambira — 7.35°S, 74.95°WCastilletes — 11.95°N, 71.33°WRío Yuca — 8.97°N, 70.08°WCaujarao — 11.50°N, 69.52°WItuzaingo — 31.70°S, 60.48°W

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The named rock units Purussaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 7 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Purussaurus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Purussaurus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

260 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 48 sites for Purussaurus, 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

21 references

Each of the 62 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. 9 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 Purussaurus

Credit
Tito Aureliano, Aline M. Ghilardi, Edson Guilherme, Jonas P. Souza-Filho, Mauro Cavalcanti, Douglas Riff
Licence
CC BY 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itJacarea through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Barbosa Rodrigues 1892