Ichthyopterygia

Ichthyopterygia was a designation introduced by Sir Richard Owen in 1840 to designate the Jurassic ichthyosaurs that were known at the time, but the term is now used more often for both true Ichthyosauria and their more primitive early and middle Triassic ancestors.

Ichthyopterygia

Nobu Tamura ( http://spinops.blogspot.com ) · CC BY 2.5 · 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
IchthyosauriformesPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
nektonicPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB
Environment
marinePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 148 million years on record.

The record covers at least 248.6 Mya to 100.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 251.902 Mya to 66 Mya.

Permian — about 0 of 690 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 37 of 690 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 75 of 690 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 89 of 690 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 173 of 690 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 44 of 690 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 98 of 690 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 145 of 690 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 29 of 690 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 690 occurrences256–249 Mya — about 11 occurrences249–243 Mya — about 63 occurrences243–236 Mya — about 40 occurrences236–230 Mya — about 18 occurrences230–223 Mya — about 13 occurrences223–217 Mya — about 9 occurrences217–211 Mya — about 10 occurrences211–204 Mya — about 17 occurrences204–198 Mya — about 67 occurrences198–191 Mya — about 33 occurrences191–185 Mya — about 13 occurrences185–178 Mya — about 73 occurrences178–172 Mya — about 15 occurrences172–165 Mya — about 16 occurrences165–159 Mya — about 27 occurrences159–153 Mya — about 18 occurrences153–146 Mya — about 44 occurrences146–140 Mya — about 36 occurrences140–133 Mya — about 12 occurrences133–127 Mya — about 19 occurrences127–120 Mya — about 14 occurrences120–114 Mya — about 9 occurrences114–107 Mya — about 23 occurrences107–101 Mya — about 57 occurrences101–95 Mya — about 30 occurrences95–88 Mya — about 3 occurrences88–82 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences82–75 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences75–69 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences69–62 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences248.6 Mya100.5 Mya256 Mya62 Mya

690 occurrences of Ichthyopterygia on record, most of them in the Early 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

690 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

160 formations

Posidonia Shale — 48.65°N, 9.53°EPosidonia Shale — 48.23°N, 8.79°EBlue Lias — 50.70°N, 2.97°WBlue Lias — 52.36°N, 1.86°WBlue Lias — 52.03°N, 2.15°WBlue Lias — 50.72°N, 2.93°WBlue Lias — 51.13°N, 2.77°WBlue Lias — 51.13°N, 2.73°WBlue Lias — 50.80°N, 3.03°WToolebuc — 20.00°S, 141.00°EToolebuc — 20.88°S, 143.80°EToolebuc — 22.92°S, 140.58°EToolebuc — 20.84°S, 144.20°EToolebuc — 20.87°S, 143.58°EToolebuc — 20.00°S, 141.18°EToolebuc — 23.12°S, 140.58°EToolebuc — 23.27°S, 140.51°EWest Melbury Marly Chalk — 52.20°N, 0.13°EWest Melbury Marly Chalk — 52.04°N, 0.15°WWest Melbury Marly Chalk — 51.08°N, 1.18°EWest Melbury Marly Chalk — 52.13°N, 0.04°EWest Melbury Marly Chalk — 51.16°N, 1.24°EVaca Muerta — 39.19°S, 69.67°WVaca Muerta — 38.11°S, 70.50°WVaca Muerta — 37.30°S, 69.80°WVaca Muerta — 38.83°S, 70.20°WVaca Muerta — 35.08°S, 69.75°WVaca Muerta — 38.46°S, 70.17°WOxford Clay — 52.54°N, 0.25°WOxford Clay — 51.75°N, 1.24°WOxford Clay — 51.73°N, 1.21°WOxford Clay — 52.00°N, 0.70°WOxford Clay — 52.57°N, 0.23°WOxford Clay — 50.61°N, 2.45°WOxford Clay — 52.56°N, 0.29°WZapata — 51.09°S, 73.26°WSulphur Mountain — 54.53°N, 120.74°WSulphur Mountain — 54.94°N, 122.40°WSulphur Mountain — 54.53°N, 121.67°WSundance — 43.65°N, 106.78°WSundance — 44.57°N, 108.05°WSundance — 42.84°N, 107.59°WSundance — 42.00°N, 108.00°WSundance — 42.00°N, 106.54°WSundance — 43.41°N, 106.75°WSundance — 41.64°N, 105.59°WSundance — 44.55°N, 104.12°WXiaowa — 25.90°N, 105.42°EXiaowa — 26.63°N, 107.27°EXiaowa — 25.87°N, 105.62°EGuanling — 25.47°N, 104.83°EGuanling — 24.78°N, 104.33°EGuanling — 24.88°N, 104.31°EGuanling — 25.70°N, 104.47°EGuanling — 25.60°N, 104.98°EGuanling — 24.53°N, 103.85°EHosselkus — 40.75°N, 122.10°WHosselkus — 40.41°N, 122.55°WHosselkus — 40.94°N, 122.12°WHosselkus — 40.72°N, 122.26°WHosselkus — 40.78°N, 122.22°WFalang — 25.16°N, 104.79°EFalang — 25.13°N, 104.75°EFalang — 28.70°N, 108.26°EPrida — 40.13°N, 118.30°WPrida — 40.28°N, 118.08°WWestbury — 53.03°N, 0.81°WWestbury — 51.60°N, 2.63°WWestbury — 51.82°N, 2.41°WWestbury — 51.93°N, 2.23°WWestbury — 51.21°N, 3.44°WWhite Lias — 51.12°N, 2.73°WPardonet — 57.26°N, 123.02°WPardonet — 57.30°N, 123.23°WPardonet — 57.31°N, 123.15°WFavret — 40.06°N, 117.56°WFavret — 40.22°N, 117.63°WFavret — 40.05°N, 117.54°WFavret — 40.03°N, 117.57°WMarnes bleues — 44.18°N, 5.90°EMarnes bleues — 44.33°N, 5.17°EMarnes bleues — 44.51°N, 5.49°EMarnes bleues — 44.21°N, 6.47°EMonte San Giorgio bituminous shales — 45.15°N, 9.23°EKimmeridge Clay — 51.74°N, 1.31°WKimmeridge Clay — 50.62°N, 2.13°WKimmeridge Clay — 51.75°N, 1.18°WKimmeridge Clay — 52.64°N, 0.37°ECharmouth Mudstone — 50.72°N, 2.82°WCharmouth Mudstone — 50.73°N, 2.90°WCharmouth Mudstone — 50.71°N, 2.96°WAlum Shale — 54.55°N, 0.88°WAlum Shale — 54.48°N, 0.60°WAlum Shale — 54.45°N, 0.53°WLuning — 38.43°N, 118.05°WLuning — 38.88°N, 117.59°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Ichthyopterygia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 136 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 245 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ichthyopterygia and its relatives

Early Jurassic

Where Ichthyopterygia and its relatives were recorded in the Early Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

838 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 533 sites for Ichthyopterygia, and this reads 240 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

361 references

Each of the 690 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. 349 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 Ichthyopterygia

Credit
Nobu Tamura ( http://spinops.blogspot.com )
Licence
CC BY 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Ichthyopterygia 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

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Owen 1840)