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Eubrontes sillimani

Reptilia - Grallatoridae

Taxonomy
Ornithoidichnites sillimani was named by Hitchcock (1843). It is considered to be a form taxon. Its type specimen is AC 9/14, a footprint, and it is a trace fossil. Its type locality is quarry west of Middletown, tracksite, which is in a Hettangian/Sinemurian fluvial-lacustrine sandstone/shale in the Portland Formation of Connecticut. It is the type species of Anchisauripus.

It was synonymized subjectively with Eubrontes dananus by Hitchcock (1845), Hay (1902), Cushman (1904); it was recombined as Brontozoum sillimanium by Hitchcock (1847), Hitchcock (1848), Warren (1854), Deane (1861), Hitchcock (1871), Miller (1879), Hitchcock (1889), Lyman (1894), Hitchcock (1898); it was recombined as Brontozoum sillimani by Quenstedt (1882); it was synonymized subjectively with Anchisauripus dananus by Hay (1930); it was recombined as Anchisauripus (Grallator) sillimani by Olsen (1981); it was recombined as Grallator (Anchisauripus) sillimani by Olsen and Galton (1984); it was recombined as Grallator sillimani by Weems (1992), Weems (2006); it was recombined as Eubrontes sillimani by Rainforth (2007); it was recombined as Anchisauripus sillimani by Lull (1915), Lull (1917), Hitchcock and Grier (1927), Anonymous (1937), Anonymous (1937), Bock (1952), Lull (1953), Baird (1954), Baird (1957), Kuhn (1963), Nelson (1965), Haubold (1969), Demathieu (1970), Haubold (1971), Haubold (1974), Demathieu and Haubold (1974), Thulborn and Wade (1984), Thulborn (1990), Olsen et al. (1998), Gand et al. (2000), Gallagher and Hanczaryk (2006), Hunt and Lucas (2006), Hunt and Lucas (2007), Niedźwiedzki (2011), Xing et al. (2014), Klein and Lucas (2021), Foster et al. (2025).

Synonyms
Synonymy list
YearName and author
1837Ornithichnites cuneatus Hitchcock p. 175
1841Ornithoidichnites cuneatus Hitchcock p. 488
1843Ornithoidichnites sillimani Hitchcock p. 156 fig. 38
1843Ornithoidichnites cuneatus Hitchcock p. 258
1844Ornithoidichnites cuneatus Hitchcock p. 306
1844Ornithoidichnites sillimanii Hitchcock p. 306
1845Eubrontes dananus Hitchcock p. 23
1847Brontozoum sillimanium Hitchcock p. 49
1848Brontozoum sillimanium Hitchcock p. 171
1854Brontozoum sillimanium Warren p. 27
1861Brontozoum sillimanium Deane p. 37
1871Brontozoum sillimanium Hitchcock p. xxi
1879Brontozoum sillimanium Miller p. 147
1882Brontozoum sillimani Quenstedt p. 130
1889Brontozoum sillimanium Hitchcock p. 118
1894Brontozoum sillimanium Lyman p. 205
1898Brontozoum sillimanium Hitchcock p. 401
1902Eubrontes dananus Hay p. 543
1904Eubrontes dananus Cushman p. 156
1904Anchisauripus dananus Lull pp. 487-488 fig. 4
1910Anchisauripus dananus Hay p. 13
1915Anchisauripus sillimani Lull p. 181 fig. 38
1915Otouphepus minor Lull p. 190 fig. 45
1917Anchisauripus sillimani Lull p. 114
1917Otouphepus minor Lull p. 115
1927Anchisauripus sillimani Hitchcock and Grier p. 186
1930Anchisauripus dananus Hay p. 3
1930Otouphepus minor Hay p. 17
1937Anchisauripus sillimani Anonymous p. 9
1952Anchisauripus sillimani Bock p. 405
1952Otouphebus minor Bock p. 408
1953Anchisauripus sillimani Lull p. 168
1953Otouphepus minor Lull p. 177
1954Anchisauripus sillimani Baird p. 183
1957Anchisauripus sillimani Baird p. 462
1963Anchisauripus sillimani Kuhn p. 79
1963Anchisauripus minor Kuhn p. 81
1965Anchisauripus sillimani Nelson p. 7
1969Anchisauripus sillimani Haubold p. 100 fig. 8
1970Anchisauripus sillimani Demathieu p. 184
1970Otouphepus minor Ellenberger p. 349
1971Anchisauripus minor Haubold p. 65
1971Anchisauripus sillimani Haubold p. 65
1972Otouphepus minor Ellenberger p. 152
1974Anchisauripus sillimani Demathieu and Haubold p. 62
1974Anchisauripus sillimani Haubold p. 128
1981Anchisauripus (Grallator) sillimani Olsen p. 558
1984Grallator (Anchisauripus) sillimani Olsen and Galton p. 98 fig. 4
1984Grallator minor Olsen and Galton p. 109
1984Anchisauripus sillimani Thulborn and Wade p. 449
1990Anchisauripus sillimani Thulborn p. 155
1992Grallator sillimani Weems p. 124
1998Anchisauripus sillimani Olsen et al. p. 592 figs. 6A-B, 7
2000Anchisauripus sillimani Gand et al. p. 616
2006Anchisauripus sillimani Gallagher and Hanczaryk p. 239
2006Anchisauripus sillimani Hunt and Lucas p. 165
2006Grallator sillimani Weems p. 373 fig. 5
2007Anchisauripus sillimani Hunt and Lucas p. 221
2007Eubrontes sillimani Rainforth p. 50
2011Anchisauripus sillimani Niedźwiedzki p. 295
2014Anchisauripus sillimani Xing et al. p. 196
2021Anchisauripus sillimani Klein and Lucas p. 4
2025Anchisauripus sillimani Foster et al. p. 280

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RankNameAuthor
kingdomAnimalia()
—Bilateria
—EubilateriaAx 1987
—Deuterostomia
phylumChordataHaeckel 1874
subphylumVertebrata
superclassGnathostomata
—Eugnathostomata
—Teleostomi(Bonaparte 1836)
subclassSarcopterygii()
subclassDipnotetrapodomorpha(Nelson 2006)
subclassTetrapodomorpha()
—Tetrapoda
—Reptiliomorpha
—Anthracosauria
subclassAmphibiosauriaKuhn 1967
—Cotylosauria()
—Amniota
—Sauropsida
RankNameAuthor
classReptilia
subclassEureptilia()
—Romeriida
—Diapsida()
—Archosauromorpha(Huene 1946)
—Crocopoda
—ArchosauriformesGauthier 1986
—Eucrocopoda
—Archosauria()
informalAvemetatarsalia
—Ornithodira
—Dinosauromorpha
—Dinosauriformes
—Dinosauria()
—Theropoda()
familyGrallatoridae
genusEubrontes
speciessillimani()

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

†Eubrontes sillimani Hitchcock 1843
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Invalid names: Anchisauripus dananus Hitchcock 1845 [synonym], Ornithichnites cuneatus Hitchcock 1837 [synonym], Otouphepus minor Lull 1915 [synonym]
Diagnosis
ReferenceDiagnosis
R. S. Lull 1915Pes: Length of digit I, 50 mm.; II, 77 mm.; III, 115 mm.; IV, 88 mm.; entire foot not inlcuding hallux, 153 mm, with hallux, 187 mm. Distance between lateral tips, 67 mm. Divarication of digits I and II, 139°; II and III, 11°; III and IV, 18°.
Length of step, 300 to 560 mm. Width of trackway, 115 mm.
R. S. Lull 1915 (Otouphepus minor)Pes: Length of digit II, 47 mm.; III, 56 mm.; IV, 52 mm; entire foot, 85 mm. Distance between lateral claws, 39 mm. Divarication of digits II and III, 20°; II and IV, 21°; II and IV, 40°.
Length of stride unknown.
Measurements
No measurements are available
Composition: hydroxyapatiteo
Entire body: yeso
Adult length: 10 to < 100o
Adult width: 1.0 to < 10o
Adult height: 1.0 to < 10o
Architecture: compact or denseo
Ontogeny: accretion, modification of partso
Grouping: solitaryo
Environment: terrestrialo
Locomotion: actively mobileo
Life habit: ground dwellingo
Diet: carnivoreo
Reproduction: oviparouso
Dispersal: direct/internalo
Dispersal 2: mobileo
Created: 2004-12-14 12:50:08
Modified: 2004-12-14 14:50:08
Source: o = order
Reference: Marsh 1875

Age range: base of the Lacian to the top of the Pliensbachian or 227.30000 to 184.20000 Ma

Collections (38 total)


Time interval Ma Country or state Original ID and collection number
Late/Upper Triassic237.0 - 201.4USA (Pennsylvania) Anchisauripus sillimani (52494)
Late/Upper Triassic237.0 - 201.4USA (New Jersey) Brontozoum sillimanium (91694)
Lacian - Alaunian227.3 - 211.18USA (Virginia) Apatichnus minor (68890) Grallator sillimani (68889)
Norian227.3 - 205.7Canada (Nova Scotia) Grallator sillimani (138975)
Norian227.3 - 205.7USA (New Mexico) Coelurosaurichnus sp. (84021)
Norian227.3 - 205.7USA (New Jersey) Anchisauripus sillimani (55418)
Norian227.3 - 205.7USA (Pennsylvania) Anchisauripus sillimani (55414) Brontozoum sillimanium (55413)
Norian - Rhaetian227.3 - 201.4USA (Utah) Anchisauripus sp. (83555)
Rhaetian205.7 - 201.4USA (New Jersey) Anchisauripus sillimani (194093)
Early/Lower Hettangian201.4 - 199.5Canada (Nova Scotia) Anchisauripus sillimani (138976 138977 138978) Grallator sillimani (227835)
Hettangian201.4 - 199.5USA (Connecticut) Anchisauripus sillimani (46438 51256 55741)
Hettangian201.4 - 199.5Canada (Nova Scotia) Grallator sillimani (227833)
Hettangian201.4 - 199.5USA (Massachusetts) Brontozoum sillimanium (53024) Otouphepus minor, Brontozoum sillimanium (52986)
Hettangian - Sinemurian201.4 - 192.9USA (Connecticut) Brontozoum sillimanium (53023 91573 91574) Brontozoum sillimanium, Ornithoidichnites cuneatus (53000) Ornithoidichnites sillimani, Eubrontes dananus, Ornithoidichnites cuneatus (type locality: 53033)
Hettangian - Sinemurian201.4 - 192.9USA (Massachusetts) Anchisauripus sillimani (53028) Brontozoum sillimanium (52985 52987 52998 52999 53025 91662 91669) Brontozoum sillimanium, Ornithoidichnites cuneatus (52994 52995 52996)
Pliensbachian192.9 - 184.2Lesotho Otouphepus minor (84073)