Ophthalmosauridae

Ophthalmosauridae is an extinct family of thunnosaur ichthyosaurs from the Middle Jurassic to the early Late Cretaceous worldwide. Almost all ichthyosaurs from the Middle Jurassic onwards belong to the family, until the extinction of ichthyosaurs in the early Late Cretaceous. Ophthalmosaurids appeared worldwide during early Bajocian, subsequent to the disappearance of most other ichthyosaur lineages after the end of the Toarcian. Currently, the oldest known ophthalmosaurids is Mollesaurus from the early Bajocian of Argentina, as well as indeterminate remains of the same age from Luxembourg and Canada. Named by George H. Baur, in 1887, the family contains the basal taxa like Ophthalmosaurus. Appleby (1956) named the taxon Ophthalmosauria which was followed by some authors, but these two names are often treated as synonyms; Ophthalmosauridae has the priority over Ophthalmosauria. However, some researchers argue that Ophthalmosauridae should be restricted to the group typically referred to as Ophthalmosaurinae, with classic Platypterygiinae instead being referred to as Undorosauridae or Brachypterygiidae and Ophthalmosauria being used to unite these two groups.

Ophthalmosauridae

User:Captmondo · 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
BaracromiaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Ichthyosauria
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Ichthyopterygia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Ichthyosauria
Environment
marinePBDB, for Ichthyosauria

Time the record covers

At least 74 million years on record.

The record covers at least 174.7 Mya to 100.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 201.4 Mya to 66 Mya.

Late Triassic — about 0 of 194 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 1 of 194 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 15 of 194 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 60 of 194 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 96 of 194 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 21 of 194 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 194 occurrences204–199 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences199–195 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences195–190 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences190–185 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences185–181 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences181–176 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences176–171 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences171–167 Mya — about 5 occurrences167–162 Mya — about 9 occurrences162–157 Mya — about 8 occurrences157–152 Mya — about 6 occurrences152–148 Mya — about 16 occurrences148–143 Mya — about 32 occurrences143–138 Mya — about 5 occurrences138–134 Mya — about 5 occurrences134–129 Mya — about 6 occurrences129–124 Mya — about 6 occurrences124–120 Mya — about 8 occurrences120–115 Mya — about 4 occurrences115–110 Mya — about 9 occurrences110–106 Mya — about 17 occurrences106–101 Mya — about 35 occurrences101–96 Mya — about 16 occurrences96–91 Mya — about 7 occurrences91–87 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences87–82 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences82–77 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences77–73 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences73–68 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences68–63 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences174.7 Mya100.5 Mya204 Mya63 Mya

194 occurrences of Ophthalmosauridae on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. 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

194 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

50 formations

Toolebuc — 20.00°S, 141.00°EToolebuc — 22.92°S, 140.58°EToolebuc — 20.84°S, 144.20°EToolebuc — 20.88°S, 143.80°EToolebuc — 20.87°S, 143.58°EToolebuc — 20.00°S, 141.18°EToolebuc — 23.12°S, 140.58°EToolebuc — 23.27°S, 140.51°EWest Melbury Marly Chalk — 52.20°N, 0.13°EWest Melbury Marly Chalk — 52.04°N, 0.15°WWest Melbury Marly Chalk — 51.08°N, 1.18°EWest Melbury Marly Chalk — 52.13°N, 0.04°EWest Melbury Marly Chalk — 51.16°N, 1.24°EVaca Muerta — 39.19°S, 69.67°WVaca Muerta — 38.11°S, 70.50°WVaca Muerta — 37.30°S, 69.80°WVaca Muerta — 38.83°S, 70.20°WVaca Muerta — 35.08°S, 69.75°WVaca Muerta — 38.46°S, 70.17°WZapata — 51.11°S, 73.30°WSundance — 43.65°N, 106.78°WSundance — 44.57°N, 108.05°WSundance — 42.84°N, 107.59°WSundance — 42.00°N, 108.00°WSundance — 42.00°N, 106.54°WSundance — 41.64°N, 105.59°WSundance — 44.55°N, 104.12°WOxford Clay — 52.00°N, 0.70°WOxford Clay — 52.57°N, 0.23°WOxford Clay — 50.61°N, 2.45°WOxford Clay — 52.56°N, 0.29°WMarnes bleues — 44.18°N, 5.90°EMarnes bleues — 44.33°N, 5.17°EMarnes bleues — 44.21°N, 6.47°ELoon River — 60.02°N, 116.95°WAgardhfjellet — 78.34°N, 15.83°EPaja — 5.47°N, 73.53°WPaja — 5.57°N, 73.53°WPaja — 5.63°N, 73.58°WGault — 51.08°N, 1.18°EKimmeridge Clay — 50.62°N, 2.13°WKimmeridge Clay — 52.64°N, 0.37°ELa Caja — 25.14°N, 101.48°WLa Caja — 25.04°N, 100.95°WLos Molles — 37.00°S, 69.75°WLos Molles — 39.25°S, 70.30°WRingnes — 76.15°N, 113.50°WJagua — 22.63°N, 83.75°WMowry Shale — 44.02°N, 104.47°WMowry Shale — 44.23°N, 104.69°WSolnhofen — 48.88°N, 10.95°ESolnhofen — 48.87°N, 10.97°ELa Casita — 24.96°N, 100.97°WLa Casita — 24.73°N, 103.55°WKarai — 11.10°N, 78.90°EClearwater — 57.00°N, 111.67°WSpeeton Clay — 54.16°N, 0.24°WSpeeton Clay — 54.21°N, 0.29°WAgardhfjellet — 78.33°N, 15.80°EKiowa Shale — 37.28°N, 99.67°W

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The named rock units Ophthalmosauridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 26 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 59 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ophthalmosauridae and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Ophthalmosauridae and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

501 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 164 sites for Ophthalmosauridae, 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

122 references

Each of the 194 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. 110 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 Ophthalmosauridae

Credit
User:Captmondo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Ophthalmosauridae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itBaracromia through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Andrews 1910)