Selenocara fossil map
Where fossils of Selenocara have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 252 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 252 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 | 251.902–250.8 million years ago |
| Periods | Triassic |
| Family | Mastodonsauridae |
| Named by | Bjerring 1997 |
| Fossil records | 2 occurrences at 2 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | Greenland, Russia |
| Rock formations | Wordy Creek, Sukhorechka |
About Selenocara
Selenocara is an extinct genus of mastodonsauroid temnospondyl. The type species is Selenocara groenlandica, described by Gunnar Säve-Söderbergh in 1935 on the basis of skull bones from the Lower Triassic Wordie Creek Formation of Greenland. Säve-Söderbergh originally described it as a new species of Wetlugasaurus.
The original material was redescribed in 1997 by Hans C. Bjerring, who transferred Wetlugasaurus groenlandicus to the separate genus named Selenocara. Bjerring listed the quadrate condyles which were about level with the occipital condyles (both transversally and horizontally), the orbitofacial openings wholly visible through the orbitopalatine openings when viewed ventrally, and the long axes of each orbitofacial opening directed toward the ipsilateral auditive incisure as the characters justifying the exclusion of S. groenlandica from the genus Wetlugasaurus. Bjerring stated that the generic name is derived from the Greek words selene, i.e. moon, and kara, i.e. head; the name honors paleontologist Eigil Nielsen, who went among contemporary Greenland explorers by the sobriquet of Månen, the Danish word for the Moon.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Selenocara (revision 1370209583), 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: Q56292789.
