Saniwa

Saniwa is an extinct genus of varanid lizard that lived during the Eocene epoch. It is known from well-preserved fossils found in the Bridger and Green River Formations of Wyoming, United States. The type species S. ensidens was described in 1870 as the first fossil lizard known from North America. A second species, S. orsmaelensis, is recognised from remains found in Europe. It is a close relative of Varanus, the genus that includes monitor lizards.

Saniwa

Jonathan Chen · CC BY-SA 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
SaniwinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 27 million years on record.

The record covers at least 60.9 Mya to 33.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 63.4 Mya to 15.98 Mya.

Paleocene — about 2 of 71 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 67 of 71 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 71 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 0 of 71 occurrencesMiocene64–63 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 1 occurrence61–59 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 8 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 9 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 9 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 8 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 8 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 6 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 4 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 4 occurrences43–41 Mya — about 4 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 4 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 1 occurrence35–33 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences33–31 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences60.9 Mya33.9 Mya64.3 Mya15 Mya

71 occurrences of Saniwa on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

71 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

Bridger — 42.37°N, 108.91°WBridger — 42.42°N, 109.35°WBridger — 42.70°N, 110.10°WBridger — 41.28°N, 110.03°WBridger — 41.20°N, 110.50°WBridger — 41.60°N, 109.97°WBridger — 41.04°N, 110.23°WSan Jose — 36.50°N, 107.00°WSan Jose — 36.24°N, 107.10°WSan Jose — 36.37°N, 107.00°WSan Jose — 36.41°N, 107.08°WSan Jose — 36.24°N, 106.95°WSan Jose — 36.18°N, 106.99°WUinta — 40.13°N, 109.52°WUinta — 40.11°N, 109.22°WUinta — 40.20°N, 109.90°WUinta — 40.08°N, 109.27°WUinta — 40.07°N, 109.70°WFriars — 32.90°N, 117.10°WWillwood — 44.85°N, 109.17°WWillwood — 43.95°N, 107.57°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.00°WWind River — 43.13°N, 104.07°WWind River — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWasatch — 42.37°N, 108.91°WWasatch — 41.70°N, 109.00°WGreen River — 40.20°N, 109.90°WGreen River — 41.78°N, 110.73°WGreen River — 41.67°N, 110.67°WFort Union — 41.30°N, 107.74°WSespe — 34.30°N, 119.00°WGolden Valley — 46.90°N, 102.80°WLas Tetas de Cabra — 28.68°N, 114.08°WWashakie — 40.60°N, 108.10°WChadron — 46.10°N, 103.30°WArgiles d'lignite du Soissonnais — 49.33°N, 2.66°EAlai Beds — 42.00°N, 76.00°ETienen — 50.82°N, 5.10°ELignites de Soissonais — 49.05°N, 4.00°EBrule — 42.40°N, 103.80°WHuerfano — 37.80°N, 105.10°WQuercy Phosphorites — 44.27°N, 1.63°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Saniwa has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 7 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Saniwa and its relatives

Eocene

Where Saniwa and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

1,041 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 63 sites for Saniwa, 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

29 references

Each of the 71 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. 17 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 content2

Picture of Saniwa

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Saniwa sp. · amnh:farb:8688

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 itSaniwinae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Leidy 1870