Thalattosauroidea

Thalattosauroidea is a superfamily of thalattosaurs, a Triassic group of marine reptiles. It was named in 1904 by paleontologist John Campbell Merriam to include the genus Thalattosaurus from California. Thalattosauroids are one of two groups of Thalattosauria, the other being Askeptosauroidea. Thalattosauroids make up the "traditional" thalattosaurs with large downturned snouts, short necks, and long, paddle-like tails.

Thalattosauroidea

Apokryltaros · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
ThalattosauriaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Thalattosauria

Time the record covers

At least 21 million years on record.

The record covers at least 248.6 Mya to 227.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 250.8 Mya to 201.4 Mya.

Early Triassic — about 3 of 30 occurrencesEarly TriassicMiddle Triassic — about 10 of 30 occurrencesMiddle TriassicLate Triassic — about 17 of 30 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 30 occurrences252–250 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences250–248 Mya — about 2 occurrences248–247 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences247–245 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences245–243 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences243–242 Mya — about 2 occurrences242–240 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences240–238 Mya — about 3 occurrences238–236 Mya — about 3 occurrences236–235 Mya — about 1 occurrence235–233 Mya — about 2 occurrences233–231 Mya — about 3 occurrences231–230 Mya — about 3 occurrences230–228 Mya — about 3 occurrences228–226 Mya — about 1 occurrence226–224 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences224–223 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences223–221 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences221–219 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences219–218 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences218–216 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences216–214 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences214–212 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences212–211 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences211–209 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences209–207 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences207–206 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences206–204 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences204–202 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences202–200 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences248.6 Mya227.3 Mya252 Mya200 Mya

30 occurrences of Thalattosauroidea 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

30 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

7 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°WSulphur Mountain — 54.52°N, 120.72°WXiaowa — 25.90°N, 105.42°EXiaowa — 25.88°N, 105.62°EFalang — 25.16°N, 104.79°EBesano — 45.91°N, 8.94°EKossen — 47.71°N, 13.20°EVester — 44.08°N, 119.67°W

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The named rock units Thalattosauroidea 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.

Thalattosauroidea and its relatives

Late Triassic

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

Found in the same rock

79 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 21 sites for Thalattosauroidea, 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

14 references

Each of the 30 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. 2 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 Thalattosauroidea

Credit
Apokryltaros
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Thalattosauroidea was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itThalattosauria through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

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