Ichthyoceros spinosus

Ichthyoceros is an extinct pycnodontid from the Late Cretaceous. It contains a single species, I. spinosus, from the Cenomanian-aged Sannine Formation of Lebanon. I. spinosus had a triple, forward-pointing horn-like spine between its eyes, very similar to the single spine of Trewavasia, and a massive, multipointed spine emanating from the back of its head. It was originally placed in the family Coccodontidae, but then was transferred to "Trewavasiidae" with Trewavasia. Recently, it has been placed in Gladiopycnodontidae due to recent anatomical similarities with the various genera within that family, including Gladiopycnodus.

Ichthyoceros spinosus

John J. Cawley, Giuseppe Marramà, Giorgio Carnevale, Jaime A. Villafaña, Faviel A. López-Romero, Jürgen Kriwet · 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
IchthyocerosPBDB
Diet
durophage, carnivorePBDB, for Pycnodontiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Pycnodontiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Pycnodontiformes

Time the record covers

At most 6.6 million years on record.

The one occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 100.5 Mya and 93.9 Mya, which is a dating window rather than a span.

Early Cretaceous — about 0 of 1 occurrenceLate Cretaceous — about 1 of 1 occurrenceLate Cretaceous101–100 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences100–100 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences100–100 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences100–100 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences100–99 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences99–99 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences99–99 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences99–99 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences99–98 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences98–98 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences98–98 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences98–98 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences98–97 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences97–97 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences97–97 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences97–97 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences97–96 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences96–96 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences96–96 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences96–96 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences96–95 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences95–95 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences95–95 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences95–95 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences95–94 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences94–94 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences94–94 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences94–94 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences101 Mya93.4 Mya

1 occurrence of Ichthyoceros spinosus 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

1 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.

Ichthyoceros spinosus and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Ichthyoceros spinosus and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

21 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Ichthyoceros spinosus, 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

1 reference

Each of the 1 occurrence 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. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Ichthyoceros spinosus

Credit
John J. Cawley, Giuseppe Marramà, Giorgio Carnevale, Jaime A. Villafaña, Faviel A. López-Romero, Jürgen Kriwet
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Ichthyoceros spinosus 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 itIchthyoceros through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gayet 1984