Hyposaurus

Hyposaurus is a genus of extinct marine dyrosaurid crocodyliform. Fossils have been found in Paleocene aged rocks of the Iullemmeden Basin in West Africa, Campanian–Maastrichtian Shendi Formation of Sudan and Maastrichtian through Danian strata in New Jersey, Alabama and South Carolina. With an Indeterminate species from the Mid to Late Palaeocene Teberemt Formation of Mali. Isolated teeth comparable to Hyposaurus have also been found in Thanetian strata of Virginia. It was related to Dyrosaurus. The priority of the species H. rogersii has been debated, however there is no sound basis for the recognition of more than one species from North America. The other North American species are therefore considered nomina vana.

No picture of Hyposaurus was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none. Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is. GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Hyposaurus, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
HyposaurinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Pseudosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mesoeucrocodylia

Time the record covers

At least 8.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 66 Mya to 57.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 72.2 Mya to 56 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 3 of 9 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 6 of 9 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 0 of 9 occurrences73–72 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences72–72 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences70–70 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences69–69 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences68–68 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences66–66 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences66–65 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences65–65 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences65–64 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences64–64 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences64–63 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences63–62 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences62–62 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences62–61 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences61–61 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences61–60 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences60–60 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences60–59 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences59–58 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences58–58 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences58–57 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences57–57 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences57–56 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences56–56 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences66 Mya57.5 Mya72.7 Mya55.5 Mya

9 occurrences of Hyposaurus on record, most of them in the Paleocene. 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

9 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

Maria Farinha — 7.91°S, 34.85°WHornerstown — 39.76°N, 75.13°WHornerstown — 40.13°N, 74.51°WUmm Himar — 21.18°N, 41.50°EUmm Himar — 21.17°N, 41.42°EWilliamsburg — 33.43°N, 80.10°WNew Egypt — 39.73°N, 75.16°W

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

Hyposaurus and its relatives

Paleocene

Where Hyposaurus and its relatives were recorded in the Paleocene.

Found in the same rock

135 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 9 sites for Hyposaurus, 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

7 references

Each of the 9 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 content0

No picture of Hyposaurus was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none.

Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is.

GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Hyposaurus, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

No 3D scan of Hyposaurus 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 itHyposaurinae through timeFormations of the PaleoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Owen 1849