Bishanopliosaurus

Bishanopliosaurus is a genus of plesiosaur. The type species is B. youngi, based on remains found in the Ziliujing Formation of China.

Bishanopliosaurus

Zhangzhugang · CC BY 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
RhomaleosauridaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Plesiosauria
Life habit
aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Plesiosauria
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Plesiosauria
Environment
marinePBDB, for Plesiosauria

Time the record covers

At least 3.8 million years on record.

The record covers at least 174.7 Mya to 170.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 184.2 Mya to 154.8 Mya.

Early Jurassic — about 1 of 4 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 3 of 4 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 0 of 4 occurrencesLate Jurassic185–184 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences184–183 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences183–182 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences182–181 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences181–180 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences180–179 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences179–178 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences178–177 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences177–176 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences176–175 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences175–174 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences174–173 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences173–172 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences172–171 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences171–170 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences170–168 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences168–167 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences167–166 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences166–165 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences165–164 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences164–163 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences163–162 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences162–161 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences161–160 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences160–159 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences159–158 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences158–157 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences157–156 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences156–155 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences155–154 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences174.7 Mya – 170.9 Mya184.8 Mya154.2 Mya

4 occurrences of Bishanopliosaurus on record, most of them in the Middle Jurassic. 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

4 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

2 formations

Shaximiao — 29.34°N, 104.78°EShaximiao — 29.41°N, 104.85°EShaximiao — 29.61°N, 104.19°EZiliujing — 31.37°N, 108.24°E

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The named rock units Bishanopliosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Bishanopliosaurus and its relatives

Middle Jurassic

Where Bishanopliosaurus and its relatives were recorded in the Middle Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

41 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 4 sites for Bishanopliosaurus, 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

4 references

Each of the 4 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 content1

Picture of Bishanopliosaurus

Credit
Zhangzhugang
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Bishanopliosaurus 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 itRhomaleosauridae through timeFormations of the Middle JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Dong 1980