Nothosaurus

Nothosaurus is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile from the Triassic period, approximately 245–228 million years ago, with fossils being distributed throughout the former Tethys Ocean, from North Africa and Europe to China. It is the best known member of the nothosaur order.

Nothosaurus

Elke Wetzig at commons.wikipedia · 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
NothosauridaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Sauropterygia

Time the record covers

At least 37 million years on record.

The record covers at least 243.43 Mya to 205.7 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 250.8 Mya to 201.4 Mya.

Early Triassic — about 0 of 103 occurrencesEarly TriassicMiddle Triassic — about 97 of 103 occurrencesMiddle TriassicLate Triassic — about 6 of 103 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 103 occurrences252–250 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences250–248 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences248–247 Mya — about 2 occurrences247–245 Mya — about 8 occurrences245–243 Mya — about 11 occurrences243–242 Mya — about 13 occurrences242–240 Mya — about 21 occurrences240–238 Mya — about 25 occurrences238–236 Mya — about 17 occurrences236–235 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences235–233 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences233–231 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences231–230 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences230–228 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences228–226 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences226–224 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences224–223 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences223–221 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences221–219 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences219–218 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences218–216 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences216–214 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences214–212 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences212–211 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences211–209 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences209–207 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences207–206 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences206–204 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences204–202 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences202–200 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences243.43 Mya205.7 Mya252 Mya200 Mya

103 occurrences of Nothosaurus 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

103 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

21 formations

Jena — 51.42°N, 11.68°EJena — 52.47°N, 13.78°EJena — 51.22°N, 11.77°EErfurt — 49.21°N, 9.68°EErfurt — 49.04°N, 9.77°EErfurt — 48.90°N, 9.20°EErfurt — 50.90°N, 10.95°EErfurt — 49.07°N, 9.90°EKarlstadt — 52.47°N, 13.78°EVossenveld — 51.97°N, 6.73°EGuanling — 25.70°N, 104.45°EGuanling — 24.78°N, 104.33°EGuanling — 25.47°N, 104.83°EMuschelkalk — 41.27°N, 1.12°ETrochitenkalk — 51.09°N, 11.63°EWellenkalk — 50.30°N, 18.97°EJilh — 26.39°N, 44.24°ECalcare di Recoaro — 45.75°N, 11.12°EFalang — 25.20°N, 105.01°EMuschelkalk — 30.35°N, 34.79°EBesano — 45.91°N, 8.94°ECassian — 46.55°N, 11.93°ETemplomhegy Dolomite — 45.88°N, 18.45°ESaharonim — 30.72°N, 34.87°EMeissner — 49.32°N, 9.49°ERoyuela — 41.14°N, 2.46°WExter — 48.55°N, 9.07°ERaibl — 47.69°N, 12.60°EHosselkus — 40.85°N, 122.10°W

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The named rock units Nothosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 60 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Nothosaurus and its relatives

Middle Triassic

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

Found in the same rock

648 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 74 sites for Nothosaurus, 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

38 references

Each of the 103 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. 26 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 content3

Picture of Nothosaurus

Credit
Elke Wetzig at commons.wikipedia
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Nothosaurus mirabilis · am:paleontology:836801

3D model

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

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 itNothosauridae through timeFormations of the Middle TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Münster 1834