Geosaurinae

Metriorhynchidae is an extinct family of specialized, aquatic metriorhynchoid crocodyliforms from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous period of Europe, North America and South America. The name Metriorhynchidae was coined by the Austrian zoologist Leopold Fitzinger in 1843. The group contains two subfamilies, the Metriorhynchinae and the Geosaurinae. They represent the most marine adapted of all archosaurs.

Geosaurinae

Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
MetriorhynchidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Environment
marinePBDB, for Thalattosuchia

Time the record covers

At least 45 million years on record.

The record covers at least 165.3 Mya to 119.57 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 170.9 Mya to 113.2 Mya.

Middle Jurassic — about 13 of 86 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 59 of 86 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 14 of 86 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous172–170 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences170–168 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences168–166 Mya — about 2 occurrences166–164 Mya — about 4 occurrences164–162 Mya — about 5 occurrences162–160 Mya — about 2 occurrences160–158 Mya — about 2 occurrences158–156 Mya — about 2 occurrences156–154 Mya — about 3 occurrences154–152 Mya — about 7 occurrences152–150 Mya — about 15 occurrences150–148 Mya — about 11 occurrences148–146 Mya — about 8 occurrences146–144 Mya — about 7 occurrences144–142 Mya — about 4 occurrences142–140 Mya — about 2 occurrences140–138 Mya — about 1 occurrence138–136 Mya — about 2 occurrences136–134 Mya — about 2 occurrences134–132 Mya — about 2 occurrences132–130 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences130–128 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences128–126 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences126–124 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences122–120 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences120–118 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences118–116 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences116–114 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences114–112 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences165.3 Mya119.57 Mya172 Mya112 Mya

86 occurrences of Geosaurinae on record, most of them in the Late Jurassic. 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

86 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

29 formations

Kimmeridge Clay — 51.74°N, 1.31°WKimmeridge Clay — 51.25°N, 2.16°WKimmeridge Clay — 52.40°N, 0.28°EKimmeridge Clay — 50.61°N, 2.13°WKimmeridge Clay — 50.59°N, 2.47°WKimmeridge Clay — 51.36°N, 1.65°WKimmeridge Clay — 50.63°N, 2.34°WKimmeridge Clay — 51.56°N, 1.78°WKimmeridge Clay — 50.61°N, 2.16°WKimmeridge Clay — 51.75°N, 1.18°WVaca Muerta — 36.30°S, 69.50°WVaca Muerta — 37.30°S, 69.80°WVaca Muerta — 39.19°S, 69.67°WVaca Muerta — 38.83°S, 70.20°WVaca Muerta — 35.90°S, 70.27°WVaca Muerta — 37.11°S, 69.48°WOxford Clay — 51.75°N, 1.18°WOxford Clay — 52.57°N, 0.23°WOxford Clay — 51.37°N, 2.14°WMergelstetten — 48.70°N, 10.17°ERosso Ammonitico Veronese — 45.52°N, 10.83°ERosso Ammonitico Veronese — 45.84°N, 11.43°ERosso Ammonitico Veronese — 45.88°N, 11.61°ESolnhofen — 48.91°N, 11.14°EMörnsheim — 48.79°N, 10.90°ETorleite — 49.01°N, 11.83°ETorleite — 50.03°N, 11.12°EReuchenette — 47.33°N, 7.64°EReuchenette — 47.42°N, 7.02°ELa Casita — 24.13°N, 100.18°WLa Casita — 25.02°N, 100.41°WMarnes de Dives — 49.33°N, 0.00°EJagua — 22.38°N, 83.50°WKoprivnice — 49.58°N, 18.12°EFaringdon Sand — 51.65°N, 1.58°WNusplingen Limestone — 48.13°N, 8.88°EArgiles de Châtillon — 50.72°N, 1.62°ESabinal — 17.00°N, 97.00°WJasna Gora — 50.45°N, 19.52°EKingston — 51.76°N, 1.20°WPainten — 48.92°N, 11.58°ELiegende Bankkalk — 48.12°N, 8.87°ETereñes — 43.49°N, 5.28°WWoburn Sand — 52.12°N, 0.20°EHybla — 38.05°N, 13.45°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Geosaurinae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 14 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Geosaurinae and its relatives

Late Jurassic

Where Geosaurinae and its relatives were recorded in the Late Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

319 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 74 sites for Geosaurinae, 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

44 references

Each of the 86 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. 32 further references are 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 Geosaurinae

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Geosaurinae 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 itMetriorhynchidae through timeFormations of the Late JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lydekker 1889