Thecodontosaurus

Thecodontosaurus is a genus of herbivorous basal sauropodomorph dinosaur that lived during the late Triassic period. Its remains are known mostly from Triassic "fissure fillings" in southern England. Thecodontosaurus was a small bipedal animal, about 2 m (6.6 ft) long. It is one of the first dinosaurs to be discovered and is one of the oldest that ever existed. Many species have been named within the genus, but only the type species Thecodontosaurus antiquus is seen as valid today.

Thecodontosaurus

Jaime A. Headden ( User:Qilong ) · 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
SauropodomorphaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Diapsida
Length
2.5 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 40 million years on record.

The record covers at least 241.464 Mya to 201.4 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 247 Mya to 192.9 Mya.

Early Triassic — about 0 of 14 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 3 of 14 occurrencesMiddle TriassicLate Triassic — about 8 of 14 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 3 of 14 occurrencesEarly Jurassic248–246 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences246–244 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences244–242 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences242–241 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences241–239 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences239–237 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences237–235 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences235–233 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences233–231 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences231–229 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences229–227 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences227–226 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences226–224 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences224–222 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences222–220 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences220–218 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences218–216 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences216–214 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences214–212 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences212–211 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences211–209 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences209–207 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences207–205 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences205–203 Mya — about 2 occurrences203–201 Mya — about 2 occurrences201–199 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences199–197 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences197–196 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences196–194 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences194–192 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences241.464 Mya201.4 Mya248 Mya192 Mya

14 occurrences of Thecodontosaurus 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

14 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

Forest Sandstone — 19.89°S, 28.92°EForest Sandstone — 20.02°S, 28.09°EMagnesian Conglomerate — 51.47°N, 2.62°WElliot — 29.82°S, 27.25°E

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The named rock units Thecodontosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Thecodontosaurus and its relatives

Late Triassic

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

Found in the same rock

90 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 14 sites for Thecodontosaurus, 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

13 references

Each of the 14 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. 1 further reference is 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 Thecodontosaurus

Credit
Jaime A. Headden ( User:Qilong )
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 itSauropodomorpha through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Riley and Stutchbury 1836