Cryptoclidus

Cryptoclidus is a genus of plesiosaur reptile from the Middle Jurassic period of England, France, and Cuba.

Cryptoclidus

Photograph by Mike Peel ( www.mikepeel.net ). · CC BY-SA 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
CryptoclididaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Plesiosauria
Life habit
aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Plesiosauria
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Plesiosauria
Environment
marinePBDB, for Plesiosauria
Length
8 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 16 million years on record.

The record covers at least 161.5 Mya to 145.06 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 165.3 Mya to 143.1 Mya.

Middle Jurassic — about 11 of 17 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 6 of 17 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 0 of 17 occurrences166–165 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences165–164 Mya — about 2 occurrences164–163 Mya — about 2 occurrences163–163 Mya — about 2 occurrences163–162 Mya — about 2 occurrences162–161 Mya — about 1 occurrence161–160 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences160–160 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences160–159 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences159–158 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences158–157 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences157–157 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences157–156 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences156–155 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences155–154 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences154–153 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences153–153 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences153–152 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences152–151 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences151–150 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences150–150 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences150–149 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences149–148 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences148–147 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences147–146 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences146–146 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences146–145 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences145–144 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences144–143 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences143–143 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences161.5 Mya145.06 Mya165.8 Mya142.6 Mya

17 occurrences of Cryptoclidus on record. 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

17 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

5 formations

Oxford Clay — 52.54°N, 0.25°WOxford Clay — 50.62°N, 2.50°WOxford Clay — 51.83°N, 0.70°WOxford Clay — 51.75°N, 1.18°WOxford Clay — 52.57°N, 0.23°WOxford Clay — 52.17°N, 0.49°WOxford Clay — 52.56°N, 0.29°WJagua — 22.38°N, 83.50°WKimmeridge Clay — 50.57°N, 2.45°WPortland Stone — 50.57°N, 2.45°WLajas — 39.25°S, 70.30°W

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The named rock units Cryptoclidus 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.

Found in the same rock

85 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 16 sites for Cryptoclidus, 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

11 references

Each of the 17 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 Cryptoclidus

Credit
Photograph by Mike Peel ( www.mikepeel.net ).
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Cryptoclidus eurymerus · igpb:r:324

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
Zelkami
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 itCryptoclididae through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Seeley 1892)