Tylosaurus

Tylosaurus is a genus of russellosaurine mosasaur that lived about 92 to 66 million years ago during the Turonian to Maastrichtian stages of the Late Cretaceous. The genus contains at least ten validly named species, the largest of which, T. rex, measuring over 13 meters (43 ft). Its fossils have been found primarily around North Atlantic Ocean including in North America, Europe, and Africa.

Tylosaurus

Loozrboy from Toronto, Canada · 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
TylosaurinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Mosasauridae
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Mosasauridae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Mosasauridae
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota
Length
14 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 17 million years on record.

The record covers at least 89.8 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 100.5 Mya to 66 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 0 of 67 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 67 of 67 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 67 occurrences101–100 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences100–99 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences99–98 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences98–96 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences96–95 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences95–94 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences94–93 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences93–92 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences92–90 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences90–89 Mya — about 3 occurrences89–88 Mya — about 6 occurrences88–87 Mya — about 6 occurrences87–86 Mya — about 6 occurrences86–84 Mya — about 5 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 4 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 3 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 3 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 3 occurrences80–78 Mya — about 3 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 3 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 3 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 3 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 3 occurrences74–72 Mya — about 3 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 1 occurrence71–70 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences89.8 Mya72.2 Mya101.2 Mya65.3 Mya

67 occurrences of Tylosaurus 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

67 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

Niobrara — 38.95°N, 100.48°WNiobrara — 38.88°N, 99.33°WNiobrara — 38.48°N, 100.90°WNiobrara — 38.00°N, 100.00°WNiobrara — 39.02°N, 99.45°WNiobrara — 37.47°N, 104.62°WNiobrara — 39.23°N, 99.30°WNiobrara — 38.90°N, 100.10°WNiobrara — 39.35°N, 99.83°WNiobrara — 39.00°N, 99.50°WNiobrara — 38.90°N, 101.10°WNiobrara — 38.92°N, 100.33°WNiobrara — 38.88°N, 97.37°WNiobrara — 38.84°N, 100.96°WNiobrara — 38.80°N, 100.19°WPierre Shale — 49.35°N, 98.34°WPierre Shale — 49.25°N, 98.20°WPierre Shale — 44.00°N, 103.25°WPierre Shale — 38.88°N, 101.59°WTar Heel — 34.57°N, 78.50°WTar Heel — 34.61°N, 78.60°WItombe — 8.29°S, 13.35°EBoquillas — 29.32°N, 103.62°WMerchantville — 39.54°N, 75.73°WSprinkle — 32.25°N, 96.51°WPrairie Bluff Chalk — 32.92°N, 88.08°WTaylor Marl — 33.13°N, 96.47°WTelegraph Creek — 45.61°N, 107.58°WVitoria — 42.03°N, 2.57°WOjinaga — 30.21°N, 104.77°WMuwaddar Chalk Marl — 31.56°N, 36.51°EHornerstown — 40.12°N, 74.55°WBearpaw Shale — 50.64°N, 107.44°WCiply-Malogne Phosphatic Chalk — 50.42°N, 3.95°ECoachman — 34.24°N, 79.84°WDonoho Creek — 34.06°N, 79.53°WLagerdorf — 53.33°N, 9.59°EMontagne des Cornes — 42.90°N, 2.35°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Tylosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 18 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Tylosaurus and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

425 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 63 sites for Tylosaurus, 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

38 references

Each of the 67 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. 26 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 content3

Picture of Tylosaurus

Credit
Loozrboy from Toronto, Canada
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Tylosaurus proriger · UCM:Paleontology:UCM:FossilVert:17475

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
PaleoMari
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itTylosaurinae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Marsh 1872