Metriorhynchinae

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.

Metriorhynchinae

Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
MetriorhynchidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Environment
marinePBDB, for Thalattosuchia

Time the record covers

At least 28 million years on record.

The record covers at least 165.3 Mya to 137.05 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 168.2 Mya to 132.6 Mya.

Middle Jurassic — about 26 of 75 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 44 of 75 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 5 of 75 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous169–168 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences168–166 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences166–165 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences165–164 Mya — about 8 occurrences164–163 Mya — about 8 occurrences163–162 Mya — about 8 occurrences162–160 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences160–159 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences159–158 Mya — about 2 occurrences158–157 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences157–155 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences155–154 Mya — about 2 occurrences154–153 Mya — about 3 occurrences153–152 Mya — about 4 occurrences152–150 Mya — about 6 occurrences150–149 Mya — about 6 occurrences149–148 Mya — about 5 occurrences148–147 Mya — about 5 occurrences147–145 Mya — about 5 occurrences145–144 Mya — about 3 occurrences144–143 Mya — about 1 occurrence143–142 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences142–141 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences139–138 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences138–137 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences137–136 Mya — about 1 occurrence136–134 Mya — about 1 occurrence134–133 Mya — about 1 occurrence133–132 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences165.3 Mya137.05 Mya168.9 Mya131.9 Mya

75 occurrences of Metriorhynchinae 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

75 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

25 formations

Oxford Clay — 52.60°N, 0.21°WVaca Muerta — 39.19°S, 69.67°WVaca Muerta — 38.82°S, 70.20°WVaca Muerta — 39.12°S, 69.42°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°EAltmühltal — 48.93°N, 11.15°ELa Caja — 25.04°N, 100.95°WLa Casita — 24.13°N, 100.78°WLa Casita — 24.96°N, 100.97°WKimmeridge Clay — 51.25°N, 2.16°WKimmeridge Clay — 51.75°N, 1.18°WSabinal — 17.26°N, 97.70°WLa Pimienta — 20.00°N, 97.43°WOrnatenton — 52.28°N, 8.76°ENusplingen Limestone — 48.13°N, 8.88°EMina Chica — 23.00°S, 69.00°WLos Molles — 37.13°S, 70.22°WSierra El Cobre — 23.43°S, 69.35°WÁgreda — 41.52°N, 1.42°WQuehuita — 21.89°S, 68.98°WArgiles de Montaubert — 50.73°N, 1.84°ESolnhofen Platenkalk — 48.92°N, 11.50°ELiegende Bankkalk — 48.12°N, 8.87°EMarnes à Deltoideum delta — 49.52°N, 0.10°EReuchenette — 47.39°N, 7.03°EJagua — 22.62°N, 83.71°WMarnes de Bléville — 49.55°N, 0.12°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Metriorhynchinae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. One further formation holds fewer occurrences and is not listed. 23 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Metriorhynchinae and its relatives

Late Jurassic

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

Found in the same rock

299 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 56 sites for Metriorhynchinae, 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

51 references

Each of the 75 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. 39 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 Metriorhynchinae

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Metriorhynchinae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itMetriorhynchidae through timeFormations of the Late JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Buchy 2008