Nothosauridae

Nothosauridae are an extinct family of carnivorous aquatic sauropterygian reptiles from the Triassic time period of China, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland, and northern Africa.

Nothosauridae

Dmitry Bogdanov · 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
Sits inside
EosauropterygiaPBDB
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 250.8 Mya to 201.4 Mya.

Early Triassic — about 1 of 150 occurrencesEarly TriassicMiddle Triassic — about 139 of 150 occurrencesMiddle TriassicLate Triassic — about 9 of 150 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 150 occurrences252–250 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences250–248 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences248–247 Mya — about 2 occurrences247–245 Mya — about 10 occurrences245–243 Mya — about 16 occurrences243–242 Mya — about 17 occurrences242–240 Mya — about 33 occurrences240–238 Mya — about 37 occurrences238–236 Mya — about 25 occurrences236–235 Mya — about 2 occurrences235–233 Mya — about 1 occurrence233–231 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences231–230 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences230–228 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences228–226 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences226–224 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences224–223 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences223–221 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences221–219 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences219–218 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences218–216 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences216–214 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences214–212 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences212–211 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences211–209 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences209–207 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences207–206 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences206–204 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences204–202 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences202–200 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences247 Mya205.7 Mya252 Mya200 Mya

150 occurrences of Nothosauridae 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

150 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

35 formations

Jena — 51.42°N, 11.68°EJena — 52.47°N, 13.78°EJena — 51.22°N, 11.77°ECassina — 45.91°N, 8.95°EErfurt — 49.21°N, 9.68°EErfurt — 49.04°N, 9.77°EErfurt — 48.90°N, 9.20°EErfurt — 50.90°N, 10.95°EErfurt — 49.07°N, 9.90°EVossenveld — 51.97°N, 6.73°EFalang — 25.08°N, 104.88°EFalang — 25.20°N, 105.01°EFalang — 25.16°N, 104.79°EMuschelkalk — 41.27°N, 1.12°EMuschelkalk — 42.07°N, 0.23°EGuanling — 25.70°N, 104.45°EGuanling — 24.78°N, 104.33°EGuanling — 25.47°N, 104.83°ETrochitenkalk — 49.31°N, 8.72°ETrochitenkalk — 51.09°N, 11.63°EKarlstadt — 52.47°N, 13.78°EWellenkalk — 50.30°N, 18.97°EPerledo-Varenna — 46.02°N, 9.30°EMuschelkalk — 31.22°N, 34.77°EMuschelkalk — 30.35°N, 34.79°EBesano — 45.91°N, 8.94°EMeride — 45.89°N, 8.94°EPerledo-Vaenna — 46.02°N, 9.30°EPerledo-Vaenna — 45.86°N, 9.40°EMeride — 45.88°N, 8.90°EJilh — 26.39°N, 44.24°EMeissner — 49.32°N, 9.49°EMeissner — 49.99°N, 11.64°EKlettgau — 47.71°N, 8.45°ECalcare di Recoaro — 45.75°N, 11.12°EGogolin — 50.48°N, 18.08°ESan Cassiano — 46.54°N, 11.94°ECassian — 46.55°N, 11.93°ETemplomhegy Dolomite — 45.88°N, 18.45°E

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The named rock units Nothosauridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 11 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 64 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Nothosauridae and its relatives

Middle Triassic

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

Found in the same rock

758 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 109 sites for Nothosauridae, 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

59 references

Each of the 150 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. 47 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 Nothosauridae

Credit
Dmitry Bogdanov
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Nothosauridae 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 itEosauropterygia through timeFormations of the Middle TriassicThe world it lived on

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