Ichthyosauria

Ichthyosauria is an order of large extinct marine reptiles sometimes referred to as "ichthyosaurs", although the term is also used for wider clades in which the order resides.

Ichthyosauria

Fishboy86164577 · 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
Also called
ichthyosaurPBDB
Sits inside
EoichthyosauriaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Ichthyopterygia
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 675 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 32 of 675 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 73 of 675 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 88 of 675 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 173 of 675 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 44 of 675 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 91 of 675 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 145 of 675 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 29 of 675 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 675 occurrences256–249 Mya — about 9 occurrences249–243 Mya — about 59 occurrences243–236 Mya — about 39 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 66 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 16 occurrences153–146 Mya — about 40 occurrences146–140 Mya — about 35 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

675 occurrences of Ichthyosauria 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

675 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

156 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°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°EWestbury — 51.60°N, 2.63°WWestbury — 51.82°N, 2.41°WWestbury — 51.93°N, 2.23°WWestbury — 51.21°N, 3.44°WKimmeridge 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 Ichthyosauria has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 132 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 241 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ichthyosauria and its relatives

Early Jurassic

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

Found in the same rock

869 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 519 sites for Ichthyosauria, 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

356 references

Each of the 675 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. 344 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 content3

Picture of Ichthyosauria

Credit
Fishboy86164577
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Ichthyosauria indet. · am:paleontology:121111

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itEoichthyosauria through timeFormations of the Early JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (de Blainville 1835)