Goniopholis

Goniopholis is an extinct genus of goniopholidid crocodyliform that lived in Europe and North America during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. Like other goniopholidids, it resembled living crocodilians, and probably had a similar ecology as semi-aquatic ambush predators.

Goniopholis

Ian Alexander · 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
GoniopholididaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Pseudosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mesoeucrocodylia

Time the record covers

At least 64 million years on record.

The record covers at least 165.3 Mya to 100.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 168.2 Mya to 83.6 Mya.

Middle Jurassic — about 2 of 99 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 49 of 99 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 47 of 99 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 1 of 99 occurrencesLate Cretaceous170–167 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences167–164 Mya — about 1 occurrence161–158 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences158–155 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences155–152 Mya — about 4 occurrences152–149 Mya — about 9 occurrences149–146 Mya — about 17 occurrences146–143 Mya — about 16 occurrences143–141 Mya — about 8 occurrences141–138 Mya — about 8 occurrences138–135 Mya — about 5 occurrences135–132 Mya — about 3 occurrences132–129 Mya — about 2 occurrences129–126 Mya — about 2 occurrences126–123 Mya — about 8 occurrences123–120 Mya — about 6 occurrences120–117 Mya — about 2 occurrences117–114 Mya — about 2 occurrences114–111 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences111–108 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences108–105 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences105–102 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences102–100 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences100–97 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences97–94 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences94–91 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences91–88 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences88–85 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences165.3 Mya100.5 Mya170 Mya82 Mya

99 occurrences of Goniopholis 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

99 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

27 formations

Morrison — 40.42°N, 109.21°WMorrison — 41.91°N, 105.96°WMorrison — 38.54°N, 105.22°WMorrison — 41.88°N, 106.11°WMorrison — 39.68°N, 105.19°WMorrison — 41.99°N, 106.08°WMorrison — 40.44°N, 109.30°WMorrison — 38.85°N, 108.48°WMorrison — 39.15°N, 108.77°WMorrison — 40.50°N, 109.17°WMorrison — 37.31°N, 103.52°WMorrison — 39.15°N, 108.77°WMorrison — 39.32°N, 110.69°WMorrison — 42.04°N, 106.39°WMorrison — 41.91°N, 105.95°WMorrison — 40.30°N, 108.57°WArcillas de Morella — 40.49°N, 0.42°EArcillas de Morella — 40.62°N, 0.10°WArcillas de Morella — 40.53°N, 0.29°WWeald Clay — 50.96°N, 0.12°WWeald Clay — 51.13°N, 0.35°WWeald Clay — 52.72°N, 1.44°WWeald Clay — 50.98°N, 0.20°WDurlston — 50.61°N, 1.95°WDurlston — 50.61°N, 1.96°WLulworth — 50.60°N, 1.97°WWadhurst Clay — 50.94°N, 0.61°EWadhurst Clay — 50.90°N, 0.51°EWadhurst Clay — 50.86°N, 0.44°EMugher Mudstone — 9.45°N, 38.62°EAlcobaça — 39.70°N, 8.80°WLourinhã — 39.85°N, 8.62°WLourinhã — 39.24°N, 9.34°WArundel Clay — 39.00°N, 76.92°WGolmayo — 41.77°N, 2.53°WVectis — 50.65°N, 1.47°WEl Castellar — 40.67°N, 0.67°WForest Marble — 51.87°N, 1.27°WArtoles — 40.82°N, 0.28°WWessex — 50.62°N, 1.37°WCabaços — 39.91°N, 8.95°WNubian Sandstone — 25.95°N, 32.69°ERabekke — 55.05°N, 14.80°EBückeberg — 52.25°N, 9.07°EMont-Lambert — 50.77°N, 1.63°EVillanueva de Huerva — 41.36°N, 1.04°WWoburn Sand — 52.12°N, 0.20°ESüntel — 51.90°N, 10.48°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Goniopholis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 18 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Goniopholis and its relatives

Late Jurassic

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

Found in the same rock

789 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 96 sites for Goniopholis, 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

65 references

Each of the 99 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. 53 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 content2

Picture of Goniopholis

Credit
Ian Alexander
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Goniopholis sp. · AMNH:FARB:573

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 itGoniopholididae through timeFormations of the Late JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Owen 1842