Nothosauria

Nothosaurs were Triassic marine sauropterygian reptiles. They averaged about 3 metres (10 ft) in length, with a long body and tail. The feet were paddle-like, and are known to have been webbed in life, to help power the animal when swimming. The neck was quite long, and the head was elongated and flattened, and relatively small in relation to the body. The margins of the long jaws were equipped with numerous sharp outward-pointing teeth, indicating a diet of fish and squid.

Nothosauria

Nobu Tamura ( http://spinops.blogspot.com ) · CC BY 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
Also called
nothosaurPBDB
Sits inside
SauropterygiaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Sauropterygia

Time the record covers

At least 41 million years on record.

The record covers at least 247 Mya to 205.7 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 248.6 Mya to 201.4 Mya.

Early Triassic — about 1 of 26 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 19 of 26 occurrencesMiddle TriassicLate Triassic — about 6 of 26 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 26 occurrences250–248 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences248–246 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences246–245 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences245–243 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences243–241 Mya — about 2 occurrences241–240 Mya — about 5 occurrences240–238 Mya — about 6 occurrences238–236 Mya — about 5 occurrences236–235 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences235–233 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences233–232 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences232–230 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences230–228 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences228–227 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences227–225 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences225–223 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences223–222 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences222–220 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences220–218 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences218–217 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences217–215 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences215–214 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences214–212 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences212–210 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences210–209 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences209–207 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences207–205 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences205–204 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences204–202 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences202–200 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences247 Mya205.7 Mya249.5 Mya200.5 Mya

26 occurrences of Nothosauria on record, most of them in the Middle Triassic. 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

26 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

Erfurt — 50.88°N, 10.95°EErfurt — 48.90°N, 9.20°EJilh — 26.39°N, 44.24°EJilh — 24.25°N, 45.63°ETemplomhegy Dolomite — 45.88°N, 18.45°EBromsgrove Sandstone — 52.33°N, 2.08°WTrossingen — 51.90°N, 11.07°ERöt — 50.39°N, 19.04°EGejiu — 24.98°N, 104.49°EGevanim — 30.60°N, 34.82°ERio del Lago — 46.46°N, 13.32°EKeuper — 41.09°N, 2.77°WPartnach — 47.15°N, 9.91°ERaibl — 47.73°N, 12.69°E

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The named rock units Nothosauria has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 11 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Nothosauria and its relatives

Middle Triassic

Where Nothosauria and its relatives were recorded in the Middle Triassic.

Found in the same rock

114 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 25 sites for Nothosauria, 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

20 references

Each of the 26 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 content1

Picture of Nothosauria

Credit
Nobu Tamura ( http://spinops.blogspot.com )
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Nothosauria 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 itSauropterygia through timeFormations of the Middle TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Baur 1889)