Cricosaurus

Cricosaurus is an extinct genus of marine crocodyliforms of the Late Jurassic. belonging to the family Metriorhynchidae. The genus was established by Johann Andreas Wagner in 1858 for three skulls from the Tithonian of Germany. The name Cricosaurus means "Ring lizard", and is derived from the Greek Krikos- ("ring") and σαῦρος -sauros ("lizard"). It was a relatively small reptile, with C. suevicus and C. araucanensis measuring 2 m (6.6 ft) and 3.2 m (10 ft) in total body length, respectively.

Cricosaurus

LiterallyMiguel · 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
RhacheosauriniPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Environment
marinePBDB, for Thalattosuchia

Time the record covers

At least 17 million years on record.

The record covers at least 154.8 Mya to 137.05 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 159 Mya to 132.6 Mya.

Late Jurassic — about 19 of 23 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 4 of 23 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous160–159 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences159–158 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences158–157 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences157–156 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences156–155 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences155–154 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences154–153 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences153–152 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences152–151 Mya — about 2 occurrences151–150 Mya — about 2 occurrences150–149 Mya — about 2 occurrences149–149 Mya — about 2 occurrences149–148 Mya — about 2 occurrences148–147 Mya — about 2 occurrences147–146 Mya — about 2 occurrences146–145 Mya — about 2 occurrences145–144 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences144–143 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences143–142 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences142–141 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences141–140 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences138–137 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences137–136 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences136–135 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences135–134 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences134–133 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences133–132 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences154.8 Mya137.05 Mya159.5 Mya132.1 Mya

23 occurrences of Cricosaurus on record, most of them in the Late 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

23 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

10 formations

Vaca Muerta — 38.82°S, 70.20°WVaca Muerta — 39.19°S, 69.67°WVaca Muerta — 39.12°S, 69.42°WVaca Muerta — 34.97°S, 69.82°WTorleite — 49.01°N, 11.83°ETorleite — 50.03°N, 11.12°EMörnsheim — 48.79°N, 10.90°ELa Pimienta — 20.00°N, 97.43°WNusplingen Limestone — 48.13°N, 8.88°ELa Caja — 25.04°N, 100.95°WLa Casita — 24.96°N, 100.97°WAltmühltal — 48.93°N, 11.15°ELiegende Bankkalk — 48.12°N, 8.87°EJagua — 22.62°N, 83.71°W

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The named rock units Cricosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 6 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cricosaurus and its relatives

Late Jurassic

Where Cricosaurus and its relatives were recorded in the Late Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

98 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 19 sites for Cricosaurus, 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

17 references

Each of the 23 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. 5 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 Cricosaurus

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

No 3D scan of Cricosaurus was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itRhacheosaurini through timeFormations of the Late JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Wagner 1858