Metriorhynchidae

Metriorhynchidae is an extinct family of specialized, aquatic metriorhynchoid crocodyliforms from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous period of Europe, North America and South America. The name Metriorhynchidae was coined by the Austrian zoologist Leopold Fitzinger in 1843. The group contains two subfamilies, the Metriorhynchinae and the Geosaurinae. They represent the most marine adapted of all archosaurs.

Metriorhynchidae

Uncredited · 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
EuthalattosuchiaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Environment
marinePBDB, for Thalattosuchia

Time the record covers

At least 45 million years on record.

The record covers at least 165.3 Mya to 119.57 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 170.9 Mya to 113.2 Mya.

Middle Jurassic — about 40 of 183 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 121 of 183 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 22 of 183 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous172–170 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences170–168 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences168–166 Mya — about 3 occurrences166–164 Mya — about 13 occurrences164–162 Mya — about 18 occurrences162–160 Mya — about 7 occurrences160–158 Mya — about 6 occurrences158–156 Mya — about 5 occurrences156–154 Mya — about 8 occurrences154–152 Mya — about 14 occurrences152–150 Mya — about 27 occurrences150–148 Mya — about 22 occurrences148–146 Mya — about 19 occurrences146–144 Mya — about 14 occurrences144–142 Mya — about 6 occurrences142–140 Mya — about 3 occurrences140–138 Mya — about 1 occurrence138–136 Mya — about 3 occurrences136–134 Mya — about 4 occurrences134–132 Mya — about 3 occurrences132–130 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences130–128 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences128–126 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences126–124 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences124–122 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences122–120 Mya — about 1 occurrence120–118 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences118–116 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences116–114 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences114–112 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences165.3 Mya119.57 Mya172 Mya112 Mya

183 occurrences of Metriorhynchidae on record, most of them in the Late 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

183 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

43 formations

Kimmeridge Clay — 51.74°N, 1.31°WKimmeridge Clay — 51.25°N, 2.16°WKimmeridge Clay — 52.40°N, 0.28°EKimmeridge Clay — 50.61°N, 2.13°WKimmeridge Clay — 51.75°N, 1.18°WKimmeridge Clay — 50.61°N, 2.45°WKimmeridge Clay — 51.56°N, 1.78°WKimmeridge Clay — 51.35°N, 1.99°WKimmeridge Clay — 51.41°N, 2.00°WKimmeridge Clay — 51.76°N, 1.20°WKimmeridge Clay — 51.36°N, 1.65°WKimmeridge Clay — 50.63°N, 2.34°WKimmeridge Clay — 50.61°N, 2.16°WOxford Clay — 52.60°N, 0.21°WOxford Clay — 51.75°N, 1.18°WOxford Clay — 51.37°N, 2.14°WVaca Muerta — 36.30°S, 69.50°WVaca Muerta — 37.30°S, 69.80°WVaca Muerta — 39.19°S, 69.67°WVaca Muerta — 38.83°S, 70.20°WVaca Muerta — 39.12°S, 69.42°WVaca Muerta — 35.90°S, 70.27°WVaca Muerta — 37.11°S, 69.48°WVaca Muerta — 34.97°S, 69.82°WTorleite — 49.01°N, 11.83°ETorleite — 50.03°N, 11.12°EMörnsheim — 48.79°N, 10.90°EJagua — 22.38°N, 83.50°WJagua — 22.62°N, 83.71°WLa Casita — 24.13°N, 100.18°WLa Casita — 24.13°N, 100.78°WLa Casita — 25.02°N, 100.41°WLa Casita — 24.96°N, 100.97°WAltmühltal — 48.93°N, 11.15°EMergelstetten — 48.70°N, 10.17°ERosso Ammonitico Veronese — 45.52°N, 10.83°ERosso Ammonitico Veronese — 45.84°N, 11.43°ERosso Ammonitico Veronese — 45.88°N, 11.61°ELa Caja — 25.04°N, 100.95°WLa Caja — 24.44°N, 99.18°WSolnhofen — 48.91°N, 11.14°EReuchenette — 47.33°N, 7.64°EReuchenette — 47.39°N, 7.03°ESabinal — 17.00°N, 97.00°WSabinal — 17.26°N, 97.70°WMarnes de Dives — 49.33°N, 0.00°EOrnatenton — 52.28°N, 8.76°ENusplingen Limestone — 48.13°N, 8.88°ELos Molles — 37.13°S, 70.22°WKingston — 51.76°N, 1.20°WLiegende Bankkalk — 48.12°N, 8.87°EKoprivnice — 49.58°N, 18.12°ELa Pimienta — 20.00°N, 97.43°WFaringdon Sand — 51.65°N, 1.58°WMina Chica — 23.00°S, 69.00°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Metriorhynchidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 19 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 44 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Metriorhynchidae and its relatives

Late Jurassic

Where Metriorhynchidae and its relatives were recorded in the Late Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

493 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 132 sites for Metriorhynchidae, 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

92 references

Each of the 183 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. 80 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 Metriorhynchidae

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No 3D scan of Metriorhynchidae 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 itEuthalattosuchia through timeFormations of the Late JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Fitzinger 1843