Pholidosauridae

Pholidosauridae is an extinct family of aquatic neosuchian mesoeucrocodylian crocodylomorphs. Fossils have been found in Europe, Africa, North America and South America. The pholidosaurids first appeared in the fossil record during the Bathonian stage of the Middle Jurassic. Jouve & Jalil (2020) described postcranial material of a pholidosaurid from the Paleocene (Danian) of Ouled Abdoun Basin (Morocco), representing the most recent record of the family. The authors also reinterpreted putative Maastrichtian dyrosaurid Sabinosuchus as a pholidosaurid, and argued that at least two independent pholidosaurid lineages reached the Maastrichtian, among which one survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Before the publication of this study it was thought that the family became extinct during the Late Turonian stage of the Late Cretaceous.

Pholidosauridae

LiterallyMiguel · CC0 · 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
TethysuchiaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Pseudosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mesoeucrocodylia

Time the record covers

At least 112 million years on record.

The record covers at least 168.2 Mya to 56 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 170.9 Mya to 48.07 Mya.

Middle Jurassic — about 2 of 69 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 4 of 69 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 38 of 69 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 24 of 69 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 1 of 69 occurrencesEocene — about 1 of 69 occurrences173–169 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences169–165 Mya — about 1 occurrence156–152 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences152–148 Mya — about 1 occurrence148–144 Mya — about 2 occurrences144–139 Mya — about 4 occurrences139–135 Mya — about 5 occurrences135–131 Mya — about 1 occurrence131–127 Mya — about 2 occurrences127–122 Mya — about 4 occurrences122–118 Mya — about 5 occurrences118–114 Mya — about 6 occurrences114–109 Mya — about 4 occurrences109–105 Mya — about 3 occurrences105–101 Mya — about 4 occurrences101–97 Mya — about 11 occurrences97–92 Mya — about 9 occurrences92–88 Mya — about 2 occurrences75–71 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences71–67 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences67–63 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences63–58 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences58–54 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences54–50 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences50–46 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences168.2 Mya56 Mya173 Mya46 Mya

69 occurrences of Pholidosauridae on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. 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

69 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

34 formations

Cloverly — 44.65°N, 107.88°WCloverly — 44.51°N, 107.90°WCloverly — 44.50°N, 107.82°WCloverly — 44.47°N, 109.05°WCloverly — 44.44°N, 109.06°WCloverly — 45.19°N, 108.80°WCedar Mountain — 39.05°N, 111.04°WCedar Mountain — 38.69°N, 111.26°WCedar Mountain — 38.88°N, 111.27°WCedar Mountain — 38.64°N, 111.37°WLewisville — 32.84°N, 97.07°WLewisville — 33.22°N, 97.13°WLewisville — 33.11°N, 97.02°WAïn el Guettar — 32.95°N, 10.28°EAïn el Guettar — 32.27°N, 10.33°EPhu Kradung — 17.18°N, 102.42°EPhu Kradung — 16.27°N, 104.43°EDakota — 38.00°N, 98.00°WDakota — 38.84°N, 97.65°WDakota — 38.92°N, 98.50°WEl Castellar — 40.67°N, 0.67°WBenton Shale — 45.43°N, 108.53°WBückeberg — 52.25°N, 9.07°EElrhaz — 16.47°N, 9.17°EContinental Intercalaire — 27.03°N, 1.08°EGara Sbaa — 30.51°N, 4.84°WTagrezou Sandstone — 17.97°N, 9.54°ETwin Mountains — 32.27°N, 97.91°WShaximiao — 29.52°N, 104.41°EMarfim — 12.93°S, 38.51°WAntlers — 34.15°N, 95.82°WContinental Intercalaire — 21.05°N, 0.24°WRush Creek — 32.77°N, 97.21°WCarlile Shale — 38.71°N, 98.91°WColeraine — 47.51°N, 93.58°WFavel — 53.12°N, 103.00°WDurlston — 50.61°N, 1.96°WGafsa Phosphates — 34.33°N, 8.41°E

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The named rock units Pholidosauridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 12 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Pholidosauridae and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Pholidosauridae and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

426 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 65 sites for Pholidosauridae, 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

48 references

Each of the 69 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. 36 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 Pholidosauridae

Credit
LiterallyMiguel
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Pholidosauridae 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 itTethysuchia through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (von Zittel and Eastman 1902)