Thalattosauria

Thalattosauria is an extinct order of marine reptiles that lived during the Triassic Period. Thalattosaurs were diverse in size and shape, and are divided into two superfamilies: Askeptosauroidea and Thalattosauroidea.

Thalattosauria

self the paleo bear Patrick S. Druckenmiller et al. John C. Merriam · 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
ThalattosauriformesPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 33 million years on record.

The record covers at least 248.6 Mya to 215.38 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 250.8 Mya to 201.4 Mya.

Early Triassic — about 3 of 42 occurrencesEarly TriassicMiddle Triassic — about 17 of 42 occurrencesMiddle TriassicLate Triassic — about 22 of 42 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 42 occurrences252–250 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences250–248 Mya — about 2 occurrences248–247 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences247–245 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences245–243 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences243–242 Mya — about 3 occurrences242–240 Mya — about 2 occurrences240–238 Mya — about 6 occurrences238–236 Mya — about 5 occurrences236–235 Mya — about 2 occurrences235–233 Mya — about 3 occurrences233–231 Mya — about 4 occurrences231–230 Mya — about 4 occurrences230–228 Mya — about 4 occurrences228–226 Mya — about 1 occurrence226–224 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences224–223 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences223–221 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences221–219 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences219–218 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences218–216 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences216–214 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences214–212 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences212–211 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences211–209 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences209–207 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences207–206 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences206–204 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences204–202 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences202–200 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences248.6 Mya215.38 Mya252 Mya200 Mya

42 occurrences of Thalattosauria on record, most of them in the Late 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

42 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

11 formations

Hosselkus — 40.80°N, 122.13°WHosselkus — 40.94°N, 122.12°WHosselkus — 40.78°N, 122.22°WHosselkus — 40.77°N, 122.25°WXiaowa — 25.90°N, 105.42°EXiaowa — 25.88°N, 105.62°EFalang — 25.13°N, 104.75°EFalang — 25.16°N, 104.79°ESulphur Mountain — 54.52°N, 120.72°WBesano — 45.91°N, 8.94°EKossen — 47.71°N, 13.20°EPardonet — 57.05°N, 122.87°WZorzino Limestone — 45.68°N, 9.72°EGejiu — 24.98°N, 104.49°EMuschelkalk — 41.27°N, 1.12°EVester — 44.08°N, 119.67°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Thalattosauria has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Thalattosauria and its relatives

Late Triassic

Where Thalattosauria and its relatives were recorded in the Late Triassic.

Found in the same rock

182 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 28 sites for Thalattosauria, 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

23 references

Each of the 42 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. 11 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 Thalattosauria

Credit
self the paleo bear Patrick S. Druckenmiller et al. John C. Merriam
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Thalattosauria was found in Smithsonian Open Access and Sketchfab.

MorphoSource 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 itThalattosauriformes through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Merriam 1905)