Platecarpus

Platecarpus is an extinct genus of aquatic lizards belonging to the mosasaur family, living around 84–81 million years ago during the middle Santonian to early Campanian, of the Late Cretaceous period. Fossils have been found in the United States and possibly in Belgium, Australia, and Africa. A well-preserved specimen of Platecarpus shows that it fed on moderate-sized fish, and it has been hypothesized to have fed on squid and ammonites as well. Like other mosasaurs, it was initially thought to have swum in an eel-like fashion, although another study suggests that it swam more like modern sharks. An exceptionally well-preserved specimen of Platecarpus, known as LACM 128319, shows skin impressions, pigments around the nostrils, bronchial tubes, and the presence of a high-profile tail fluke, showing that it and other mosasaurs did not necessarily have an eel-like swimming method, but were more powerful, fast swimmers. It is held in the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Isotopic analysis on teeth specimens has suggested that this genus and Clidastes may have entered freshwater occasionally, just like modern sea snakes.

Platecarpus

Creator: Dmitry Bogdanov · CC BY 3.0 · via Wikidata/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
PlioplatecarpiniPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Mosasauridae
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Mosasauridae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Mosasauridae
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota
Length
4.3 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 17 million years on record.

The record covers at least 89.8 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 143.1 Mya to 66 Mya.

Late Jurassic — about 0 of 60 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 1 of 60 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 59 of 60 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 60 occurrences145–142 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences142–139 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences139–137 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences137–134 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences134–131 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences131–129 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences129–126 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences126–123 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences123–121 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences121–118 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences118–115 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences115–113 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences113–110 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences110–107 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences107–105 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences105–102 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences102–99 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences99–97 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences97–94 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences94–91 Mya — about 2 occurrences91–89 Mya — about 4 occurrences89–86 Mya — about 7 occurrences86–83 Mya — about 13 occurrences83–80 Mya — about 6 occurrences80–78 Mya — about 6 occurrences78–75 Mya — about 6 occurrences75–72 Mya — about 6 occurrences72–70 Mya — about 3 occurrences70–67 Mya — about 2 occurrences67–64 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences89.8 Mya72.2 Mya145 Mya64 Mya

60 occurrences of Platecarpus on record, most of them in the Late 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

60 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

20 formations

Niobrara — 38.95°N, 100.48°WNiobrara — 38.00°N, 100.25°WNiobrara — 38.77°N, 100.90°WNiobrara — 48.63°N, 98.04°WNiobrara — 38.83°N, 100.12°WNiobrara — 38.75°N, 100.21°WNiobrara — 38.90°N, 100.10°WNiobrara — 39.15°N, 99.35°WNiobrara — 38.79°N, 100.76°WPierre Shale — 43.31°N, 104.22°WPierre Shale — 43.02°N, 98.62°WPierre Shale — 43.29°N, 104.11°WPierre Shale — 42.87°N, 97.38°WPierre Shale — 43.26°N, 104.34°WPierre Shale — 43.58°N, 103.20°WPierre Shale — 38.77°N, 101.41°WPierre Shale — 43.19°N, 103.78°WPierre Shale — 43.50°N, 103.96°WPierre Shale — 49.22°N, 98.20°WPierre Shale — 49.37°N, 98.27°WPierre Shale — 49.25°N, 98.25°WPierre Shale — 51.03°N, 100.20°WMolecap Greensand — 31.35°S, 115.90°EMolecap Greensand — 30.68°S, 115.70°EBlufftown — 32.16°N, 85.03°WPoint Lookout — 35.20°N, 107.05°WTar Heel — 34.57°N, 78.50°WEutaw — 33.48°N, 88.42°WPierre — 43.92°N, 102.58°WEctor Chalk — 32.85°N, 96.79°WBrownstown — 33.92°N, 93.48°WMesaverde — 43.47°N, 109.22°WBoquillas — 29.32°N, 103.62°WMuwaddar Chalk Marl — 31.56°N, 36.51°EDukamaje — 15.37°N, 5.83°ECotinguiba — 10.88°S, 37.17°WTorme — 42.67°N, 2.63°WMontagne des Cornes — 42.90°N, 2.35°EDemopolis — 34.59°N, 88.63°WKarababa — 37.45°N, 40.37°E

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The named rock units Platecarpus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 14 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Platecarpus and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Platecarpus and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

445 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 59 sites for Platecarpus, 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

40 references

Each of the 60 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. 28 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 content3

Picture of Platecarpus

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

Photogrammetry

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Platecarpus sp. · UCM:Paleontology:UCM:FossilVert:20576

3D model

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

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 itPlioplatecarpini through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cope 1869