Sphagesauridae

Sphagesauridae is a Gondwanan family of mesoeucrocodylians that lived during the Late Cretaceous. It was a clade of terrestrial crocodilians that evolved very mammal-like teeth and jaws. Both Sphagesaurus and Adamantinasuchus are known from the Turonian to Santonian of Brazil.

Sphagesauridae

Smokeybjb · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
SphagesauriaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Pseudosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mesoeucrocodylia

Time the record covers

At most 28 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 93.9 Mya and 66 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Late Cretaceous — about 20 of 20 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 20 occurrences94–93 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences93–93 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences93–92 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences92–91 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences91–90 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences90–89 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences89–88 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences88–87 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences87–86 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences86–85 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences85–84 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 1 occurrence82–81 Mya — about 1 occurrence81–80 Mya — about 1 occurrence80–79 Mya — about 1 occurrence79–78 Mya — about 1 occurrence78–77 Mya — about 1 occurrence77–76 Mya — about 1 occurrence76–75 Mya — about 1 occurrence75–74 Mya — about 1 occurrence74–73 Mya — about 1 occurrence73–72 Mya — about 1 occurrence72–71 Mya — about 1 occurrence71–70 Mya — about 1 occurrence70–69 Mya — about 1 occurrence69–68 Mya — about 1 occurrence68–67 Mya — about 1 occurrence67–66 Mya — about 1 occurrence66–65 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences94.5 Mya65.4 Mya

20 occurrences of Sphagesauridae 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

20 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

3 formations

Adamantina — 21.94°S, 51.37°WAdamantina — 21.44°S, 50.17°WAdamantina — 21.22°S, 48.57°WAdamantina — 17.70°S, 40.77°WAdamantina — 22.31°S, 50.03°WAdamantina — 21.28°S, 48.48°WAdamantina — 22.05°S, 51.55°WAdamantina — 21.14°S, 48.97°WAdamantina — 22.12°S, 51.37°WAdamantina — 21.22°S, 48.51°WAdamantina — 20.57°S, 50.46°WAdamantina — 19.51°S, 50.11°WAdamantina — 20.28°S, 50.25°WAdamantina — 21.33°S, 48.58°WCajones — 17.57°S, 63.85°WSanto Anastácio — 20.62°S, 50.52°W

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

Sphagesauridae and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

43 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 19 sites for Sphagesauridae, 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

18 references

Each of the 20 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. 6 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 Sphagesauridae

Credit
Smokeybjb
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
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 itSphagesauria through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Kuhn 1968)