Machimosaurus

Machimosaurus is an extinct genus of machimosaurid crocodyliform from the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. The type species, Machimosaurus hugii, was found in Switzerland. Other fossils have been found in England, France, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland and Tunisia. Machimosaurus rex is the largest named teleosauroid and thalattosuchian, with an estimated length of up to 7.15 m (23.5 ft). Machimosaurus is the largest known crocodyliform of the Jurassic.

Machimosaurus

Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
MachimosauriniPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Environment
marinePBDB, for Thalattosuchia

Time the record covers

At least 28 million years on record.

The record covers at least 161.5 Mya to 132.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 165.3 Mya to 100.5 Mya.

Middle Jurassic — about 1 of 45 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 36 of 45 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 8 of 45 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 0 of 45 occurrences167–164 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences164–162 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences162–160 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences160–158 Mya — about 2 occurrences158–155 Mya — about 3 occurrences155–153 Mya — about 7 occurrences153–151 Mya — about 11 occurrences151–149 Mya — about 10 occurrences149–146 Mya — about 2 occurrences146–144 Mya — about 2 occurrences144–142 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences142–140 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences140–137 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences137–135 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences135–133 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences133–131 Mya — about 1 occurrence131–128 Mya — about 1 occurrence128–126 Mya — about 1 occurrence126–124 Mya — about 1 occurrence124–122 Mya — about 1 occurrence122–119 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences119–117 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences117–115 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences115–113 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences113–110 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences110–108 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences108–106 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences106–104 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences104–101 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences101–99 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences161.5 Mya132.6 Mya167 Mya99 Mya

45 occurrences of Machimosaurus 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

45 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

17 formations

Douiret — 32.68°N, 10.17°EDouiret — 33.11°N, 10.33°EDouiret — 32.87°N, 10.38°ELourinhã — 39.23°N, 9.34°WAlcobaça — 39.70°N, 8.80°WAlcobaça — 39.82°N, 8.65°WArgiles de Châtillon — 50.81°N, 1.61°EArgiles de Châtillon — 50.72°N, 1.62°ESables de Glos — 49.11°N, 0.38°EHigueruelas — 39.42°N, 0.76°WOxford Clay — 52.57°N, 0.23°WRaetschenbank — 47.17°N, 8.53°EMarnes a Gryphées virgules d'Issoncourt — 49.16°N, 5.39°EMont-Lambert — 50.77°N, 1.63°EKimmeridge Clay — 50.59°N, 2.47°WCalcaires marneux à Ptérocères — 46.09°N, 4.79°ECouches à Cidaris chofatti — 39.37°N, 9.15°WTereñes — 43.59°N, 5.87°WCalcaires Coquilliers — 49.40°N, 0.15°ESüntel — 52.29°N, 8.71°ELastres — 43.48°N, 5.44°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Machimosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 19 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Machimosaurus and its relatives

Late Jurassic

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

Found in the same rock

269 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 42 sites for Machimosaurus, 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

21 references

Each of the 45 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. 8 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 Machimosaurus

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Machimosaurus hugii · nms:paleontology:NMSO 7039

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 itMachimosaurini through timeFormations of the Late JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0.