Omnisaura

Dinosaur genus

Piveteausaurus

Taquet and Welles 1977

Piveteausaurus is a dinosaur genus known from bones, found in rocks 165.3–161.5 million years old, in France.

Confidence labels
How sure are we?2 high4 medium3 lowHow we rate confidence

Confidence labels are switched off. Facts with low confidence, or where sources disagree, still carry a small dot: tap it for the reason.

At a glance

Data as of 12 October 2026
165.3–161.5 Ma
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
252 million years ago20114366

Solid: the ages of its dated fossils, 165.3–161.5 million years ago (Omnisaura's calculation). Pale: the published range, 165.3–154.8 million years ago, which also counts records Omnisaura leaves out.

The last non-bird dinosaurs died out 66 million years ago. That's as far from us as the end of this bar.

Named by
Taquet and Welles 1977
highhigh: PBDB and Wikidata agree.
Sources

Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.

Described in
P. Taquet, S. P. Welles (1977). Redescription du crâne de dinosaure théropode de Dives (Normandie) [Redescription of a theropod dinosaur skull from Dives (Normandy)]. Annales de Paléontologie (Vertébrés) 63(2): 191–206.
highhigh: PBDB gives this publication for the name; its author and year match the naming authority (Taquet and Welles 1977), on which PBDB and Wikidata agree.
Sources

Given by: Paleobiology Database. The publication the Paleobiology Database gives as the authority for this genus name, usually the one that first named and described it.

Type species
Piveteausaurus divesensis
mediummedium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.
Sources

Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.

Lived
Callovian to Oxfordian, 165.3–154.8 million years ago
mediummedium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.
Omnisaura calculation165.3–161.5 million years ago, from its dated fossil records
lowlow: Omnisaura's calculation from only 1 dated record(s).
Sources

Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.

Fossils found in
France
lowlow: Only one PBDB record.
Sources

Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: Union of all sources (ISO 3166).

Rock formations
Marnes de Dives
lowlow: Only one PBDB record.
Sources

Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: Canonical names, automatic and editor-approved matches applied.

Family
Megalosauridae
mediummedium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.
Sources

Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.

Parent group
Eustreptospondylinae
mediummedium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.
Sources

Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.

Known from
Bones
Sources

Given by: Paleobiology Database (what the name was based on).

Sources: Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0), Wikidata (CC0 1.0)Confidence levels and gaps are Omnisaura's own assessment.

Gaps are answers

What isn't known yet

  • Order: no source we use gives it yet.
  • Common names: no source we use gives it yet.
  • What it was named after: no source we use gives it yet.
  • Held back: 2 fossil records left out: identified only tentatively (for example "cf." or "?").
  • Resting on one source: 4 facts come from a single source with nothing against them (rated medium): type species (PBDB); parent group (PBDB); family (PBDB); age (headline) (PBDB).

Size, diet and behaviour aren't covered yet. Omnisaura leaves them out rather than guess.

Where sources disagree

None open. Where our sources overlap, they agree on everything shown here.

Did it meet…?

?

No. Piveteausaurus had gone at least 77.9 million years before Tyrannosaurus appears in the fossil record, a longer gap than the 66 million years between Tyrannosaurus and today.

Going by the ages and rock formations of their dated fossils, as on the map. Compare their fossil sites on the map.

Lived alongside

Genera found in the same rock formations, from rocks of the same age.

Same family

Other genera in Megalosauridae with a full profile.

Credits

Where this page comes from

  • Paleobiology DatabaseCC BY 4.0 · fossil records, ages, classification
  • WikidataCC0 1.0 · names and identifiers
  • OmnisauraOmnisaura editorial · confidence levels and gaps
  • PaleoMAP PaleoCoastlines (Kocsis and Scotese 2021)CC BY 4.0 · ancient coastlines on the small map
  • Natural EarthPublic domain · today's coastlines

Pictures linked from this page are credited beside each one, with their own licences; the full list is in the JSON download.