Lariosaurus

Lariosaurus is an extinct genus of nothosaurid from the Middle Triassic of central and western Europe and China. With a complete specimen of L. xingyiensis measuring 70.5 cm (2.3 ft) long and L. hongguoensis possibly measuring up to 80 cm (2.6 ft) long, it was one of the smallest known nothosaurs. First discovered at Perledo on the Lake Como in 1830, it was named in 1847 by Curioni, its name meaning "Lizard from Larius", the ancient name of the lake. This makes it one of the earliest studied reptiles from the Alps. It is known from an almost complete skeleton holotype and several other fairly complete fossils.

Lariosaurus

Uncredited · 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
NothosaurinaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Sauropterygia

Time the record covers

At least 7.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 247 Mya to 239.48 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 250.8 Mya to 237 Mya.

Early Triassic — about 1 of 27 occurrencesEarly TriassicMiddle Triassic — about 26 of 27 occurrencesMiddle TriassicLate Triassic — about 0 of 27 occurrences251–250 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences250–250 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences250–249 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences249–249 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences249–248 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences248–248 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences248–247 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences247–247 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences247–246 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences246–246 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences246–245 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences245–245 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences245–244 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences244–244 Mya — about 1 occurrence244–243 Mya — about 1 occurrence243–243 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences243–242 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences242–242 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences242–241 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences241–241 Mya — about 1 occurrence241–240 Mya — about 1 occurrence240–240 Mya — about 1 occurrence240–239 Mya — about 1 occurrence239–239 Mya — about 3 occurrences239–238 Mya — about 3 occurrences238–238 Mya — about 3 occurrences238–237 Mya — about 3 occurrences237–237 Mya — about 3 occurrences247 Mya239.48 Mya251.3 Mya236.5 Mya

27 occurrences of Lariosaurus on record, most of them in the Middle 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

27 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

16 formations

Falang — 25.08°N, 104.88°EFalang — 25.16°N, 104.79°EPerledo-Varenna — 46.02°N, 9.30°ETrochitenkalk — 49.31°N, 8.72°ETrochitenkalk — 51.09°N, 11.63°EMuschelkalk — 41.27°N, 1.12°EMuschelkalk — 42.07°N, 0.23°EVossenveld — 51.97°N, 6.73°EPerledo-Vaenna — 46.02°N, 9.30°EPerledo-Vaenna — 45.86°N, 9.40°EMeride — 45.88°N, 8.90°EMeride — 45.89°N, 8.94°EPartnach — 46.66°N, 13.74°EGuanling — 25.48°N, 104.85°EGejiu — 24.98°N, 104.49°EMeissner — 49.99°N, 11.64°EOsnabrück — 52.10°N, 8.31°EBesano — 45.89°N, 8.89°EBesano — 45.91°N, 8.95°EJialingjiang — 31.05°N, 111.63°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Lariosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Lariosaurus and its relatives

Middle Triassic

Where Lariosaurus and its relatives were recorded in the Middle Triassic.

Found in the same rock

145 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 21 sites for Lariosaurus, 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

17 references

Each of the 27 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. 5 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 Lariosaurus

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itNothosaurinae through timeFormations of the Middle TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Curioni 1847