Dinosaur time gap

Did Spinosaurus and Dimetrodon live at the same time?

No. Spinosaurus (Late Cretaceous) and Dimetrodon (Cisuralian) are separated by 174 million years.

Spinosaurus to you: 94 million years.

More time separated them than separates Spinosaurus from you.

Spinosaurus

Late Cretaceous · 101–94 million years ago

Named by Stromer, 1915

Fossils from Morocco, Egypt, Niger, 3 more

Silhouette by Alessio Ciaffi

Dimetrodon

Cisuralian · 283–274 million years ago

Named by Cope, 1878

Fossils from United States, Canada, Germany

Dimetrodon is not a dinosaur.

Silhouette by Will Toosey

Dig from Dimetrodon down to Spinosaurus →

Between Dimetrodon and Spinosaurus

  • Helicoprion Guadalupian · 274–267 million years ago
  • Thecodontosaurus Late Triassic · 206–201 million years ago
  • Dilophosaurus Early Jurassic · 200–184 million years ago
  • Mamenchisaurus Middle Jurassic · 168–162 million years ago
  • Brachiosaurus Late Jurassic · 155–143 million years ago
  • Stegosaurus Late Jurassic · 155–143 million years ago
  • Kentrosaurus Late Jurassic · 149–143 million years ago
  • Iguanodon Early Cretaceous · 126–121 million years ago

Fun Facts

  • Spinosaurus was named by Stromer in 1915.
  • Dimetrodon is known from 94 fossil sites.
  • Dimetrodon is not a dinosaur. It was gone 37 million years before the oldest dinosaur here.

Did they live at the same time?

Every animal you can pick →