Rhynchosauria

Rhynchosaurs are a group of extinct herbivorous Triassic archosauromorph reptiles, belonging to the order Rhynchosauria. Rhynchosaurs are distinguished by their triangular skulls and elongated, beak like premaxillary bones. Rhynchosaurs first appeared in the Early Triassic, reaching their broadest abundance and a global distribution during the Carnian stage of the Late Triassic, before dying out early in the succeeding Norian stage.

Rhynchosauria

Daderot · Public Domain · 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
rhynchosaurPBDB
Sits inside
CrocopodaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Diapsida

Time the record covers

At least 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 250.8 Mya to 227.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 251.902 Mya to 205.7 Mya.

Permian — about 0 of 132 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 1 of 132 occurrencesEarly TriassicMiddle Triassic — about 47 of 132 occurrencesMiddle TriassicLate Triassic — about 84 of 132 occurrencesLate Triassic253–251 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences251–250 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences248–246 Mya — about 5 occurrences246–245 Mya — about 13 occurrences245–243 Mya — about 11 occurrences243–242 Mya — about 10 occurrences242–240 Mya — about 3 occurrences240–238 Mya — about 2 occurrences238–237 Mya — about 3 occurrences237–235 Mya — about 7 occurrences235–234 Mya — about 7 occurrences234–232 Mya — about 8 occurrences232–230 Mya — about 8 occurrences230–229 Mya — about 8 occurrences229–227 Mya — about 7 occurrences227–226 Mya — about 3 occurrences226–224 Mya — about 3 occurrences224–222 Mya — about 3 occurrences222–221 Mya — about 3 occurrences221–219 Mya — about 3 occurrences219–218 Mya — about 3 occurrences218–216 Mya — about 3 occurrences216–214 Mya — about 3 occurrences214–213 Mya — about 3 occurrences213–211 Mya — about 3 occurrences211–210 Mya — about 3 occurrences210–208 Mya — about 3 occurrences208–206 Mya — about 3 occurrences206–205 Mya — about 1 occurrence250.8 Mya227.3 Mya252.8 Mya204.8 Mya

132 occurrences of Rhynchosauria 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

132 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

24 formations

Santa Maria — 29.70°S, 53.79°WSanta Maria — 29.64°S, 53.45°WSanta Maria — 29.63°S, 54.13°WSanta Maria — 29.73°S, 52.05°WSanta Maria — 29.65°S, 53.29°WSanta Maria — 29.70°S, 52.86°WSanta Maria — 29.63°S, 53.45°WOtter Sandstone — 50.66°N, 3.28°WOtter Sandstone — 50.68°N, 3.23°WOtter Sandstone — 50.63°N, 3.31°WPebbly Arkose — 16.23°S, 30.33°EPebbly Arkose — 16.10°S, 30.05°EPebbly Arkose — 16.10°S, 30.47°EMaleri — 19.22°N, 79.58°EMaleri — 19.17°N, 79.67°EMaleri — 18.63°N, 79.93°EIschigualasto — 30.14°S, 67.88°WIschigualasto — 30.14°S, 67.82°WIschigualasto — 29.22°S, 68.70°WTiki — 23.92°N, 81.37°ETiki — 23.92°N, 81.35°EIsalo II — 22.17°S, 45.00°EIsalo II — 22.00°S, 45.20°EIsalo II — 22.92°S, 44.55°EChañares — 29.87°S, 67.72°WChañares — 29.82°S, 67.75°WMoenkopi — 34.78°N, 110.04°WMoenkopi — 35.02°N, 110.08°WMoenkopi — 35.02°N, 110.70°WLossiemouth Sandstone — 57.72°N, 3.29°WBromsgrove Sandstone — 52.29°N, 1.58°WBromsgrove Sandstone — 52.30°N, 1.52°WBromsgrove Sandstone — 52.33°N, 2.08°WCaturrita — 29.70°S, 53.77°WCaturrita — 29.67°S, 52.72°WColorado City — 32.17°N, 101.25°WColorado City — 32.18°N, 101.25°WBurgersdorp — 30.69°S, 26.71°EBurgersdorp — 30.61°S, 26.62°EManda Beds — 10.38°S, 35.27°EManda Beds — 10.28°S, 35.23°EManda Beds — 10.30°S, 35.31°EWolfville — 45.22°N, 64.00°WWolfville — 45.14°N, 64.32°WWolfville — 45.32°N, 63.79°WDenwa — 22.60°N, 78.57°ETecovas — 35.38°N, 102.16°WChinle — 35.84°N, 111.25°WKatberg — 31.76°S, 25.38°EPopo Agie — 43.53°N, 106.80°WBull Canyon — 35.37°N, 103.38°WYerrapalli — 19.38°N, 79.25°ESanto Domingo — 28.50°S, 68.75°W

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The named rock units Rhynchosauria has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Rhynchosauria and its relatives

Late Triassic

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

Found in the same rock

235 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 119 sites for Rhynchosauria, 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

53 references

Each of the 132 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. 41 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 Rhynchosauria

Credit
Daderot
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Rhynchosauria 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 itCrocopoda through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Osborn 1903)