Geosaurus

Geosaurus is an extinct genus of marine crocodyliform within the family Metriorhynchidae, that lived during the Late Jurassic and the Early Cretaceous. Geosaurus was a carnivore that spent much, if not all, its life out at sea. No Geosaurus eggs or nests have been discovered, so little is known of the reptile's lifecycle, unlike other large marine reptiles of the Mesozoic, such as plesiosaurs or ichthyosaurs which are known to give birth to live young out at sea. Where Geosaurus mated, whether on land or at sea, is currently unknown. The name Geosaurus means "Mother of Giants lizard", and is derived from the Greek Ge- and σαῦρος -sauros ("lizard"). The name Geosaurus was established by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1824.

Geosaurus

LiterallyMiguel · CC BY 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
GeosaurinaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Environment
marinePBDB, for Thalattosuchia

Time the record covers

At least 150 million years on record.

The record covers at least 283.3 Mya to 132.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 298.9 Mya to 125.77 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 0 of 18 occurrencesPermian — about 1 of 18 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 18 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 0 of 18 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 0 of 18 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 18 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 0 of 18 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 13 of 18 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 4 of 18 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous302–296 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences296–290 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences290–284 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences284–278 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences164–158 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences158–152 Mya — about 2 occurrences152–146 Mya — about 7 occurrences146–140 Mya — about 4 occurrences140–134 Mya — about 2 occurrences134–128 Mya — about 1 occurrence128–122 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences283.3 Mya132.6 Mya302 Mya122 Mya

18 occurrences of Geosaurus 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

18 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

6 formations

Vaca Muerta — 39.19°S, 69.67°WVaca Muerta — 38.83°S, 70.20°WMörnsheim — 48.79°N, 10.90°EJagua — 22.38°N, 83.50°WSolnhofen — 48.91°N, 11.14°EKimmeridge Clay — 50.59°N, 2.47°WMergelstetten — 48.70°N, 10.17°E

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The named rock units Geosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 7 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Geosaurus and its relatives

Late Jurassic

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

Found in the same rock

88 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 17 sites for Geosaurus, 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

10 references

Each of the 18 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 Geosaurus

Credit
LiterallyMiguel
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Geosaurus gigantea · NHMUK:PAL:PV R 1230

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itGeosaurina through timeFormations of the Late JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cuvier 1824