Baryonyx

Baryonyx is a genus of theropod dinosaur which lived in the Barremian stage of the Early Cretaceous period, about 130–125 million years ago. The first skeleton was discovered in 1983 in the Smokejack Clay Pit, of Surrey, England, in sediments of the Weald Clay Formation, and became the holotype specimen of Baryonyx walkeri, named by palaeontologists Alan J. Charig and Angela C. Milner in 1986. The genus name Baryonyx comes from Ancient Greek βαρύς (barús), meaning "heavy" or "strong", and ὄνυξ (ónux), meaning "claw", alluding to the animal's very large claw on the first finger; the specific name, walkeri, refers to its discoverer, amateur fossil collector William J. Walker. The holotype specimen is one of the most complete theropod skeletons from the UK, and its discovery attracted media attention. Specimens later discovered in other parts of the United Kingdom and Iberia have also been assigned to the genus, though many have since been moved to new genera.

A picture published with the record for Baryonyx.

★Kumiko★ · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 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
BaryonychinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Theropoda
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Theropoda
Length
10 mWikidata
Mass
1.9 tonneWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 13 million years on record.

The record covers at least 132.6 Mya to 119.57 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 139.1 Mya to 110.1 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 12 of 12 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous140–139 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences139–138 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences138–137 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences137–136 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences136–135 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences135–134 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences134–133 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences133–132 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences132–131 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences131–130 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences130–129 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences129–128 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences128–127 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences127–126 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences126–125 Mya — about 1 occurrence125–124 Mya — about 1 occurrence124–123 Mya — about 1 occurrence123–122 Mya — about 1 occurrence122–121 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences121–120 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences120–119 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences119–118 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences118–117 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences117–116 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences116–115 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences115–114 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences114–113 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences113–112 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences112–111 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences111–110 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences132.6 Mya119.57 Mya139.7 Mya109.5 Mya

12 occurrences of Baryonyx on record, most of them in the Early 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

12 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

Pinilla de los Moros — 42.02°N, 3.25°WPinilla de los Moros — 42.15°N, 3.17°WPinilla de los Moros — 42.30°N, 3.64°WWeald Clay — 51.13°N, 0.35°WWeald Clay — 51.13°N, 0.43°EWessex — 50.65°N, 1.46°WWadhurst Clay — 50.86°N, 0.44°EPapo Seco — 38.41°N, 9.22°WAïn el Guettar — 33.12°N, 10.27°EEl Castellar — 40.46°N, 0.74°W

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The named rock units Baryonyx has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Baryonyx and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Baryonyx and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

179 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 12 sites for Baryonyx, 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 12 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 content3

Picture of Baryonyx

Credit
★Kumiko★
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Baryonyx walkeri · NHMUK:PAL:PV R 9951 a

3D model

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

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 itBaryonychinae through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Charig and Milner 1986