Globidens

Globidens is an extinct genus of mosasaurid oceanic lizard classified as part of the Globidensini tribe in the Mosasaurinae subfamily. Globidens belongs to the family Mosasauridae, which consists of several genera of predatory marine lizards of various sizes that were prevalent during the Late Cretaceous. Specimens of Globidens have been discovered in Angola, Brazil, Colombia, Morocco, Syria and the United States. Among mosasaurs, Globidens is probably most well known for the highly rounded, globe-like teeth that give it its name.

Globidens

Jonathan Chen · 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
GlobidensiniPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Mosasauridae
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Mosasauridae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Mosasauridae
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota
Length
6 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 83.6 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 89.8 Mya to 66 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 32 of 32 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 32 occurrences90–89 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences89–89 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences89–88 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences88–87 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences87–86 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences86–85 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences85–85 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences85–84 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 1 occurrence83–82 Mya — about 1 occurrence82–81 Mya — about 1 occurrence81–80 Mya — about 1 occurrence80–80 Mya — about 1 occurrence80–79 Mya — about 1 occurrence79–78 Mya — about 1 occurrence78–77 Mya — about 1 occurrence77–76 Mya — about 1 occurrence76–75 Mya — about 1 occurrence75–75 Mya — about 1 occurrence75–74 Mya — about 1 occurrence74–73 Mya — about 1 occurrence73–72 Mya — about 1 occurrence72–71 Mya — about 2 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 2 occurrences70–70 Mya — about 2 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 2 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 2 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 2 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 2 occurrences66–66 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences83.6 Mya72.2 Mya90.3 Mya65.5 Mya

32 occurrences of Globidens 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

32 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

13 formations

Pierre Shale — 43.46°N, 103.31°WPierre Shale — 44.19°N, 99.70°WPierre Shale — 43.58°N, 103.20°WPierre Shale — 39.01°N, 101.37°WWolfe City/Sprinkle — 33.45°N, 95.95°WWolfe City/Sprinkle — 33.15°N, 96.35°WWolfe City/Sprinkle — 33.48°N, 95.77°WPhosphates — 32.88°N, 6.63°WMarshalltown — 39.55°N, 75.65°WMooreville Chalk — 32.51°N, 87.36°WAustin Chalk — 29.19°N, 100.40°WMocuio — 14.27°S, 12.38°EPhosphorite Unit — 32.02°N, 36.03°EDuwi — 26.10°N, 34.28°ESpiennes Chalk — 50.42°N, 3.98°EDakhla — 25.75°N, 28.83°EDemopolis — 34.58°N, 88.63°WGramame — 7.73°S, 34.83°W

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The named rock units Globidens has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 13 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Globidens and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

232 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 31 sites for Globidens, 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

19 references

Each of the 32 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. 7 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 content2

Picture of Globidens

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
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 itGlobidensini through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gilmore 1912