Ectenosaurus

Ectenosaurus is an extinct genus of marine lizard belonging to the mosasaur family. It is classified as part of the Plioplatecarpinae subfamily alongside genera like Angolasaurus and Platecarpus. Ectenosaurus is known from the Santonian and Campanian of Kansas, Alabama, and Texas.

Ectenosaurus

Johan Lindgren, Michael J. Everhart, and Michael W. Caldwell · CC BY 2.5 · 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
PlioplatecarpinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Mosasauridae
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Mosasauridae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Mosasauridae
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota
Length
5.7 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 2.1 million years on record.

The record covers at least 85.7 Mya to 83.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 89.8 Mya to 72.2 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 5 of 5 occurrencesLate Cretaceous90–90 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences90–89 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences89–88 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences88–88 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences88–87 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences87–87 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences87–86 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences86–85 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences85–85 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences85–84 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences83–83 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences82–82 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences80–80 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences80–79 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences79–79 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences79–78 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences77–77 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences75–75 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences74–74 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences73–72 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences72–72 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences85.7 Mya – 83.6 Mya90.3 Mya71.7 Mya

5 occurrences of Ectenosaurus on record, most of them in the Late 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

5 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

3 formations

Niobrara — 39.12°N, 100.02°WNiobrara — 39.00°N, 100.50°WNiobrara — 39.65°N, 99.22°WPen — 29.36°N, 103.52°WMooreville Chalk — 33.03°N, 87.97°W

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

Ectenosaurus and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Ectenosaurus and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

3 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 5 sites for Ectenosaurus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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 5 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 content2

Picture of Ectenosaurus

Credit
Johan Lindgren, Michael J. Everhart, and Michael W. Caldwell
Licence
CC BY 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Ectenosaurus clidastoides · FHSM:vp:401

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 itPlioplatecarpinae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Russell 1967