Protostega

Protostega

Claire H. from New York City, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikidata/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
ProtostegidaePBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Cryptodira
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Cryptodira
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Chelonioidea
Length
3 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 21 million years on record.

The record covers at least 93.9 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 100.5 Mya to 66 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 0 of 17 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 17 of 17 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 17 occurrences101–100 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences100–99 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences99–98 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences98–96 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences96–95 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences95–94 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences94–93 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences93–92 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences92–90 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences90–89 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences89–88 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences88–87 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences87–86 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences86–84 Mya — about 2 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 2 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences80–78 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences74–72 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences93.9 Mya72.2 Mya101.2 Mya65.3 Mya

17 occurrences of Protostega on record, most of them in the Late 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

17 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

Mooreville Chalk — 32.60°N, 87.68°WMooreville Chalk — 32.84°N, 87.89°WMooreville Chalk — 32.76°N, 88.02°WMooreville Chalk — 32.87°N, 88.04°WMooreville Chalk — 32.96°N, 88.13°WNiobrara — 38.77°N, 100.92°WRybushka — 51.24°N, 44.99°ERybushka — 52.45°N, 44.92°EPierre Shale — 49.23°N, 98.28°WMocuio — 14.27°S, 12.38°EEagle Ford — 31.59°N, 97.20°W

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The named rock units Protostega 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.

Protostega and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Protostega and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

91 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 17 sites for Protostega, 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

10 references

Each of the 17 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 Protostega

Credit
Claire H. from New York City, USA
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Protostega gigas · FHSM:vp:17979

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itProtostegidae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cope 1871