Dakosaurus

Dakosaurus is an extinct genus of crocodylomorph within the family Metriorhynchidae that lived during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. It was large, with teeth that were serrated and compressed lateromedially. The genus was established by Friedrich August von Quenstedt in 1856 for an isolated tooth named Geosaurus maximus by Theodor Plieninger in 1846. Dakosaurus was a carnivore that spent much, if not all, of its life out at sea. The extent of its adaptation to a marine lifestyle means that it is most likely that it mated at sea, but since no eggs or nests have been discovered that have been referred to Dakosaurus, whether it gave birth to live young at sea like dolphins and ichthyosaurs or came ashore like turtles is not known yet. The name Dakosaurus means "biter lizard", and is derived from the Greek dakos ("biter") and σαῦρος -sauros ("lizard").

Dakosaurus

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
DakosaurinaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Environment
marinePBDB, for Thalattosuchia

Time the record covers

At least 41 million years on record.

The record covers at least 161.5 Mya to 119.57 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 165.3 Mya to 113.2 Mya.

Middle Jurassic — about 2 of 37 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 29 of 37 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 6 of 37 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous166–165 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences165–163 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences163–161 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences161–159 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences159–157 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences157–156 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences156–154 Mya — about 2 occurrences154–152 Mya — about 4 occurrences152–150 Mya — about 9 occurrences150–148 Mya — about 6 occurrences148–146 Mya — about 3 occurrences146–145 Mya — about 3 occurrences145–143 Mya — about 2 occurrences143–141 Mya — about 1 occurrence141–139 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences139–137 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences137–136 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences123–121 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences121–119 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences119–118 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences118–116 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences116–114 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences114–112 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences161.5 Mya119.57 Mya166 Mya112 Mya

37 occurrences of Dakosaurus 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

37 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

17 formations

Kimmeridge Clay — 51.74°N, 1.31°WKimmeridge Clay — 52.40°N, 0.28°EKimmeridge Clay — 50.62°N, 2.12°WKimmeridge Clay — 50.59°N, 2.49°WKimmeridge Clay — 50.63°N, 2.34°WVaca Muerta — 36.30°S, 69.50°WVaca Muerta — 37.30°S, 69.80°WVaca Muerta — 39.19°S, 69.67°WVaca Muerta — 37.11°S, 69.48°WMergelstetten — 48.70°N, 10.17°EOxford Clay — 51.75°N, 1.18°WOxford Clay — 52.57°N, 0.23°WTorleite — 49.01°N, 11.83°ETorleite — 50.03°N, 11.12°ESolnhofen — 48.90°N, 11.11°ELa Casita — 24.13°N, 100.18°WLa Casita — 25.02°N, 100.41°WFaringdon Sand — 51.65°N, 1.58°WNusplingen Limestone — 48.13°N, 8.88°EArgiles de Châtillon — 50.72°N, 1.62°EReuchenette — 47.33°N, 7.64°EMarnes de Dives — 49.33°N, 0.00°EPainten — 48.92°N, 11.58°ELiegende Bankkalk — 48.12°N, 8.87°ETereñes — 43.49°N, 5.28°WWoburn Sand — 52.12°N, 0.20°EAltmühltal — 48.93°N, 11.15°E

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The named rock units Dakosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Dakosaurus and its relatives

Late Jurassic

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

Found in the same rock

212 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 33 sites for Dakosaurus, 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

22 references

Each of the 37 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. 10 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 Dakosaurus

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

Laser scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Dakosaurus sp. · camsm:J29449

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 itDakosaurina through timeFormations of the Late JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Quenstedt 1856