Guizhouichthyosaurus

Guizhouichthyosaurus is an extinct genus of ichthyosaur which is known primarily from the Xiaowa Formation of the lower Carnian stage of the Late Triassic in southwest China. The type species of this genus is Guizhouichthyosaurus tangae, of which multiple skeletons are known. It has been reassigned as a species of the genus Shastasaurus in the past, though it has since been considered distinct. The ichthyosaurs Cymbospondylus asiaticus, named in 2002, and Panjiangsaurus epicharis, named in 2003, are junior synonyms of G. tangae. The genus is also known from the Ladinian-aged Middle Triassic Zhuganpo Formation; additionally, the species "Callawayia" wollongangense may belong to Guizhouichthyosaurus.

Guizhouichthyosaurus

Buernia · 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
ShastasauridaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Ichthyosauria
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Ichthyopterygia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Ichthyosauria
Environment
marinePBDB, for Ichthyosauria

Time the record covers

At least 3.4 million years on record.

The record covers at least 237 Mya to 233.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 241.464 Mya to 227.3 Mya.

Middle Triassic — about 3 of 8 occurrencesMiddle TriassicLate Triassic — about 5 of 8 occurrencesLate Triassic242–241 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences241–241 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences241–240 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences240–240 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences240–239 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences239–239 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences239–238 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences238–238 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences238–237 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences237–237 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences237–236 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences236–236 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences236–235 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences235–235 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences235–234 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences234–234 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences234–233 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences233–233 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences233–232 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences232–232 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences232–231 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences231–231 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences231–230 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences230–230 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences230–229 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences229–229 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences229–228 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences228–228 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences228–227 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences227–227 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences237 Mya233.6 Mya242 Mya226.8 Mya

8 occurrences of Guizhouichthyosaurus on record, most of them in the Late Triassic. 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

8 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

3 formations

Xiaowa — 25.90°N, 105.42°EXiaowa — 25.87°N, 105.62°EFalang — 25.16°N, 104.79°EWayao — 25.82°N, 105.20°E

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The named rock units Guizhouichthyosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Guizhouichthyosaurus and its relatives

Late Triassic

Where Guizhouichthyosaurus and its relatives were recorded in the Late Triassic.

Found in the same rock

34 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 7 sites for Guizhouichthyosaurus, 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

7 references

Each of the 8 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 content1

Picture of Guizhouichthyosaurus

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

No 3D scan of Guizhouichthyosaurus 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 itShastasauridae through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0.