Metriorhynchus

Metriorhynchus is an extinct genus of marine crocodyliform that lived in the oceans during the Late Jurassic. The type species, M. brevirostris was named in 1829 as a species of Steneosaurus before being named as a separate genus by the German palaeontologist Christian von Meyer in 1832. The name Metriorhynchus means "moderate snout", and is derived from the Greek Metrio- ("moderate") and -rhynchos ("snout").

Metriorhynchus

Laurillard · Public Domain · 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
MetriorhynchinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Environment
marinePBDB, for Thalattosuchia

Time the record covers

At least 16 million years on record.

The record covers at least 165.3 Mya to 149.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 168.2 Mya to 143.1 Mya.

Middle Jurassic — about 18 of 30 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 12 of 30 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 0 of 30 occurrences169–168 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences168–167 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences167–166 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences166–165 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences165–164 Mya — about 4 occurrences164–163 Mya — about 4 occurrences163–163 Mya — about 4 occurrences163–162 Mya — about 4 occurrences162–161 Mya — about 1 occurrence161–160 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences160–159 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences159–158 Mya — about 1 occurrence158–157 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences157–157 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences157–156 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences156–155 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences155–154 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences154–153 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences153–152 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences152–151 Mya — about 1 occurrence151–150 Mya — about 1 occurrence150–150 Mya — about 1 occurrence150–149 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences149–148 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences148–147 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences147–146 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences146–145 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences145–144 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences144–143 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences143–143 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences165.3 Mya149.2 Mya168.7 Mya142.6 Mya

30 occurrences of Metriorhynchus on record, most of them in the Middle 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

30 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

12 formations

Oxford Clay — 52.60°N, 0.21°WOrnatenton — 52.28°N, 8.76°EMina Chica — 23.00°S, 69.00°WLos Molles — 37.13°S, 70.22°WSierra El Cobre — 23.43°S, 69.35°WLa Caja — 25.04°N, 100.95°WVaca Muerta — 39.19°S, 69.67°WKimmeridge Clay — 51.75°N, 1.18°WQuehuita — 21.89°S, 68.98°WReuchenette — 47.39°N, 7.03°EMarnes de Bléville — 49.55°N, 0.12°EMarnes de Dives — 49.33°N, 0.00°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Metriorhynchus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 12 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Metriorhynchus and its relatives

Middle Jurassic

Where Metriorhynchus and its relatives were recorded in the Middle Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

120 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 26 sites for Metriorhynchus, 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

26 references

Each of the 30 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. 14 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 Metriorhynchus

Credit
Laurillard
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
PeePmono
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itMetriorhynchinae through timeFormations of the Middle JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. von Meyer 1830