Nhanulepisosteus mexicanus

Nhanulepisosteus is an extinct genus of gar from the Upper Jurassic of Mexico. All remains of the genus have been found at Llano Yosobé, a locality belonging to the Sabinal Formation located near the city of Tlaxiaco. Though from the Jurassic, the fish shows most features seen in modern gar such as the lacrimomaxillary; a bone located at the front of the skull. Nhanulepisosteus had a short, wide snout that allowed it to use suction when feeding more than modern gars. One of the most notable features of the skull is the frontmost tooth on the bottom dentition that has been referred to as a fang. This is due to this tooth being five times larger than the teeth behind it. Similar to other early gars, Nhanulepisosteus was found in marine environments. There is only one species in the genus: N. mexicanus.

Nhanulepisosteus mexicanus

Brito, P.M., Alvarado-Ortega J., Meunier F.J. · CC BY 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
NhanulepisosteusPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Lepisosteiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Lepisosteiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Lepisosteiformes
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Lepisosteiformes

Time the record covers

At most 5.6 million years on record.

The one occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 154.8 Mya and 149.2 Mya, which is a dating window rather than a span.

Late Jurassic — about 1 of 1 occurrenceLate Jurassic155–155 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences155–154 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences154–154 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences154–154 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences154–154 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences154–154 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences154–153 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences153–153 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences153–153 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences153–153 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences153–152 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences152–152 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences152–152 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences152–152 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences152–152 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences152–151 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences151–151 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences151–151 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences151–151 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences151–150 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences150–150 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences150–150 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences150–150 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences150–150 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences150–149 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences149–149 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences155.3 Mya148.7 Mya

1 occurrence of Nhanulepisosteus mexicanus 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

1 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

1 formation

Sabinal — 17.26°N, 97.70°W

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The named rock units Nhanulepisosteus mexicanus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Nhanulepisosteus mexicanus and its relatives

Late Jurassic

Where Nhanulepisosteus mexicanus and its relatives were recorded in the Late Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

2 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Nhanulepisosteus mexicanus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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

1 reference

Each of the 1 occurrence 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. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Nhanulepisosteus mexicanus

Credit
Brito, P.M., Alvarado-Ortega J., Meunier F.J.
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Nhanulepisosteus mexicanus 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 itNhanulepisosteus through timeFormations of the Late JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Brito et al. 2017