Pachypleurosauridae

Pachypleurosauria is an extinct clade of primitive sauropterygian reptiles from the Triassic period. Pachypleurosaurs vaguely resembled aquatic lizards, with elongate forms ranging in size from 0.2–1 metre (0.66–3.28 ft), with small heads, long necks, paddle-like limbs, and long, deep tails. The limb girdles are greatly reduced, so it is unlikely these animals could move about on land. The widely spaced peg-like teeth project at the front of the jaws, indicating that these animals fed on fish. In the species Prosantosaurus, it was observed that they fed on small fishes and crustaceans which they devoured entirely and that its teeth regrew after they broke off. This was the first observation of tooth replacement in a European pachypleurosaur, with the only other discovery of such an event having been made in China.

Pachypleurosauridae

Nowic · GPL · 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
PachypleurosauroideaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Sauropterygia

Time the record covers

At least 7.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 247 Mya to 239.48 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 250.8 Mya to 237 Mya.

Early Triassic — about 1 of 48 occurrencesEarly TriassicMiddle Triassic — about 47 of 48 occurrencesMiddle TriassicLate Triassic — about 0 of 48 occurrences251–250 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences250–250 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences250–249 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences249–249 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences249–248 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences248–248 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences248–247 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences247–247 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences247–246 Mya — about 1 occurrence246–246 Mya — about 1 occurrence246–245 Mya — about 1 occurrence245–245 Mya — about 2 occurrences245–244 Mya — about 2 occurrences244–244 Mya — about 3 occurrences244–243 Mya — about 3 occurrences243–243 Mya — about 3 occurrences243–242 Mya — about 3 occurrences242–242 Mya — about 3 occurrences242–241 Mya — about 3 occurrences241–241 Mya — about 3 occurrences241–240 Mya — about 3 occurrences240–240 Mya — about 3 occurrences240–239 Mya — about 3 occurrences239–239 Mya — about 2 occurrences239–238 Mya — about 2 occurrences238–238 Mya — about 2 occurrences238–237 Mya — about 2 occurrences237–237 Mya — about 2 occurrences247 Mya239.48 Mya251.3 Mya236.5 Mya

48 occurrences of Pachypleurosauridae 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

48 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

23 formations

Besano — 45.91°N, 8.94°ECassina — 45.91°N, 8.95°EVossenveld — 51.97°N, 6.73°EVossenveld — 51.97°N, 6.78°EGuanling — 25.48°N, 104.85°EGuanling — 24.90°N, 104.20°EGuanling — 24.88°N, 104.31°EBesano — 45.89°N, 8.90°EJena — 51.22°N, 11.77°EMonte San Giorgio bituminous shales — 45.15°N, 9.23°EJialingjiang — 28.68°N, 115.85°ECalcare di Meride — 45.98°N, 8.97°EErfurt — 49.21°N, 9.68°EMeride — 45.89°N, 8.94°EPerledo-Varenna — 46.02°N, 9.30°EJilh — 26.39°N, 44.24°ELower Meride Limestone — 45.90°N, 8.93°EKarchowice — 50.58°N, 18.17°EChorzow — 50.58°N, 17.63°EMeride — 45.88°N, 8.90°EPartnach — 46.66°N, 13.74°EGutenstein — 48.99°N, 19.59°EMeride Limestone — 45.91°N, 8.95°EProsanto — 46.63°N, 9.75°EKarlstadt — 51.92°N, 11.29°ECunardo — 45.85°N, 8.80°E

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The named rock units Pachypleurosauridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Pachypleurosauridae and its relatives

Middle Triassic

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

Found in the same rock

205 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 44 sites for Pachypleurosauridae, 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

28 references

Each of the 48 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. 16 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 Pachypleurosauridae

Credit
Nowic
Licence
GPL
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No 3D scan of Pachypleurosauridae 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 itPachypleurosauroidea through timeFormations of the Middle TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Nopcsa 1928