Leptonectes

Leptonectes is a genus of ichthyosaur that lived in the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic. Fossils have been found in Belgium, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. A possible specimen from Switzerland first reported in 2006, has been reclassified as that of Hauffiopteryx. The type species, L. tenuirostris, reached 4 metres (13 ft) long, whereas L. moorei likely reached 3 metres (9.8 ft) long; the largest species, L. solei, was approximately 5–6 metres (16–20 ft) long.

Leptonectes

the paleobear · CC BY 2.0 · 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
NeoichthyosauriaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Ichthyosauria
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Ichthyopterygia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Ichthyosauria
Environment
marinePBDB, for Ichthyosauria

Time the record covers

At least 17 million years on record.

The record covers at least 201.4 Mya to 184.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 205.7 Mya to 182.9 Mya.

Late Triassic — about 1 of 12 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 11 of 12 occurrencesEarly Jurassic206–205 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences205–205 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences205–204 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences204–203 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences203–202 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences202–201 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences201–201 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences201–200 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences200–199 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences199–198 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences198–197 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences197–197 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences197–196 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences196–195 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences195–194 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences194–194 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences194–193 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences193–192 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences192–191 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences191–190 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences190–190 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences190–189 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences189–188 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences188–187 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences187–186 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences186–186 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences186–185 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences185–184 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences184–183 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences183–182 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences201.4 Mya184.2 Mya206.2 Mya182.4 Mya

12 occurrences of Leptonectes on record, most of them in the Early 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

12 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

Charmouth Mudstone — 50.72°N, 2.82°WCharmouth Mudstone — 50.73°N, 2.89°WBlue Lias — 52.36°N, 1.86°WBlue Lias — 50.73°N, 2.93°WPosidonia Shale — 48.65°N, 9.53°EEthe — 49.61°N, 5.81°EKössener Schichten — 48.13°N, 16.24°E

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The named rock units Leptonectes 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.

Leptonectes and its relatives

Early Jurassic

Where Leptonectes and its relatives were recorded in the Early Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

23 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 12 sites for Leptonectes, 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

9 references

Each of the 12 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 Leptonectes

Credit
the paleobear
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Leptonectes moorei · NHMUK:PAL:PV R 14370

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 itNeoichthyosauria through timeFormations of the Early JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. McGowan 1996