Cochleosaurus fossil map
Where fossils of Cochleosaurus have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 300 million years ago and on today’s map.
Dots are fossil collections recorded in the Paleobiology Database. The “then” view moves today’s fossil sites back to their positions 300 million years ago (the time slice nearest the median age of the fossils) using the Merdith et al. (2021) plate model; positions are approximate. Open on the timeline map →
| Group | Early tetrapods & amphibians |
|---|---|
| Lived | 315.2–307 million years ago (Moscovian) |
| Periods | Carboniferous |
| Family | Cochleosauridae |
| Named by | Fritsch 1885 |
| Fossil records | 6 occurrences at 3 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | Czech Republic, Canada |
| Rock formations | Kladno, txn:36999 |
About Cochleosaurus
Cochleosaurus (“spoon lizard”, from the Latin cochlear "spoon" and Greek sauros “lizard”) were medium-sized edopoid temnospondyls that lived in Euramerica during the Moscovian age. Two species, C. bohemicus and C. florensis, have been identified from the fossil record.
Both species lived in equatorial saltwater marshes with highly variable water depth. The majority of Cochleosaurus remains have been discovered in fossil assemblages in the Late Carboniferous Sydney Coalfield in Nova Scotia and the Kladno Formation in the Czech Republic.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Cochleosaurus (revision 1368538622), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Ages, family, authority and fossil records: Paleobiology Database, accessed 23 October 2026. Ages are those of the rock layers the fossils were found in. Wikidata: Q545346.
