Dolichorhynchops

Dolichorhynchops is an extinct genus of polycotylid plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous of North America, containing the species D. osborni and D. herschelensis, with two previous species having been assigned to new genera. Definitive specimens of D. osborni have been found in the late Coniacian to early Campanian rocks, while those of D. herschelensis have been found in the late Campanian to early Maastrichtian rocks. Dolichorhynchops was a relatively small plesiosaur, measuring around 3 metres (9.8 ft) long. Its Greek generic name means "long-nosed face".

Dolichorhynchops

Gary Todd from Xinzheng, China · CC0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
DolichorhynchiaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Plesiosauria
Life habit
aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Plesiosauria
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Plesiosauria
Environment
marinePBDB, for Plesiosauria
Length
3 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 2.1 million years on record.

The record covers at least 85.7 Mya to 83.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 93.9 Mya to 66 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 14 of 14 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 14 occurrences94–93 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences93–93 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences93–92 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences92–91 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences91–90 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences90–89 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences89–88 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences88–87 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences87–86 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences86–85 Mya — about 1 occurrence85–84 Mya — about 1 occurrence84–83 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences80–79 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences79–78 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences73–72 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences66–65 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences85.7 Mya – 83.6 Mya94.5 Mya65.4 Mya

14 occurrences of Dolichorhynchops on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

14 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

5 formations

Niobrara — 38.91°N, 101.18°WNiobrara — 38.91°N, 101.59°WNiobrara — 38.95°N, 101.16°WPierre Shale — 43.24°N, 104.29°WPierre Shale — 43.19°N, 103.61°WPierre Shale — 43.01°N, 103.30°WMesaverde — 44.12°N, 107.76°WBearpaw Shale — 51.63°N, 108.36°WNiobrara — 49.23°N, 98.13°W

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The named rock units Dolichorhynchops has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Dolichorhynchops and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Dolichorhynchops and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

9 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 14 sites for Dolichorhynchops, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

9 references

Each of the 14 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Dolichorhynchops

Credit
Gary Todd from Xinzheng, China
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itDolichorhynchia through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Williston 1902