Mixosaurus

Mixosaurus is an extinct genus of Middle Triassic ichthyosaur. Its fossils have been found near the Italy–Switzerland border and in South China.

Mixosaurus

Seth.sorensen · 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
MixosauridaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Ichthyosauria
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Ichthyopterygia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Ichthyosauria
Environment
marinePBDB, for Ichthyosauria
Length
2 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At most 51 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 251.902 Mya and 201.4 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Permian — about 0 of 13 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 0 of 13 occurrencesEarly TriassicMiddle Triassic — about 11 of 13 occurrencesMiddle TriassicLate Triassic — about 1 of 13 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 13 occurrences253–251 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences251–249 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences249–248 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences248–246 Mya — about 1 occurrence246–244 Mya — about 2 occurrences244–242 Mya — about 4 occurrences242–241 Mya — about 3 occurrences241–239 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences239–237 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences237–235 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences235–234 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences234–232 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences232–230 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences230–228 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences228–227 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences227–225 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences225–223 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences223–221 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences221–220 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences220–218 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences218–216 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences216–214 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences214–213 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences213–211 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences211–209 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences209–207 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences207–206 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences206–204 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences204–202 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences202–200 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences253 Mya200 Mya

13 occurrences of Mixosaurus 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

13 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

6 formations

Favret — 40.06°N, 117.56°WFavret — 40.22°N, 117.63°WFavret — 40.05°N, 117.54°WGuanling — 25.60°N, 104.98°EGuanling — 24.78°N, 104.29°EGuanling — 24.53°N, 103.85°EMonte San Giorgio bituminous shales — 45.15°N, 9.23°EBesano — 45.91°N, 8.94°EBesano — 45.89°N, 8.90°EStockletten — 47.80°N, 12.17°E

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The named rock units Mixosaurus 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.

Mixosaurus and its relatives

Middle Triassic

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

Found in the same rock

38 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 12 sites for Mixosaurus, 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

11 references

Each of the 13 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. 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 Mixosaurus

Credit
Seth.sorensen
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Mixosaurus sp. · nhmuk:pal

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 itMixosauridae through timeFormations of the Middle TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Baur 1887