Geiseltaliellus

Geiseltaliellus is an extinct genus of iguanian lizards that lived in what is now western Europe during the Eocene. It belongs to the family Corytophanidae, which includes modern casquehead lizards. Many fossils are known from Germany, France, and Belgium, with the most well preserved coming from the Messel pit lagerstätte in Messel, Germany. German paleontologist Oskar Kuhn named the genus in 1944 after the Geiseltal valley where the first specimens were found, designating the type species Geiseltaliellus longicaudus. Three new species — G. louisi, G. lamandini, and G. grisolli — were named in the 1990s and 2000s on the basis of more fragmentary remains from France and Belgium, although G. louisi has since been synonymized with G. longicaudus. In 2009 the Messel pit specimens were recognized as belonging to a species distinct from that of the G. longicaudus specimens in Geiseltalt and were collectively reclassified under a new name, G. maarius.

Geiseltaliellus

Chris Woodrich · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
IguanidaePBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Iguanidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Iguanidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 20 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 27.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 15.98 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 37 occurrencesEocene — about 35 of 37 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 37 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 0 of 37 occurrencesMiocene57–55 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 2 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 2 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 2 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 2 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 2 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 1 occurrence47–46 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 1 occurrence40–39 Mya — about 2 occurrences39–37 Mya — about 3 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 6 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 6 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 3 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences48.07 Mya27.3 Mya56.8 Mya15.2 Mya

37 occurrences of Geiseltaliellus on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

37 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

10 formations

Perrière — 44.37°N, 1.73°EPerrière — 44.38°N, 1.43°ETienen — 50.82°N, 5.10°ECalcaire de Saint-Ouen — 49.13°N, 3.35°EPerriere — 44.35°N, 1.73°ECollegats — 42.25°N, 1.08°ESilveirinha — 40.01°N, 8.82°WLignites de Soissonais — 49.08°N, 4.03°EQuercy Phosphorites — 44.27°N, 1.63°EMessel — 49.93°N, 8.73°ECorca — 42.02°N, 0.70°E

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The named rock units Geiseltaliellus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 20 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Geiseltaliellus and its relatives

Eocene

Where Geiseltaliellus and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

494 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 25 sites for Geiseltaliellus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

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

13 references

Each of the 37 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. 1 further reference is not listed. 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 content1

Picture of Geiseltaliellus

Credit
Chris Woodrich
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Geiseltaliellus was found in Sketchfab.

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 itIguanidae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Kuhn 1944