Prognathodon

Prognathodon is an extinct genus of marine lizard belonging to the mosasaur family. It is classified as part of the Mosasaurinae subfamily, alongside genera like Mosasaurus and Clidastes. Prognathodon has been recovered from deposits ranging in age from the Campanian to the Maastrichtian in the Middle East, Europe, New Zealand, Africa and North America.

Prognathodon

Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
GlobidensiniPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Mosasauridae
Life habit
aquaticPBDB, for Mosasauridae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Mosasauridae
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota
Length
10 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 21 million years on record.

The record covers at least 93.9 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 100.5 Mya to 61.66 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 0 of 94 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 94 of 94 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 94 occurrencesPaleocene101–100 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences100–99 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences99–97 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences97–96 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences96–95 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences95–93 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences93–92 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences92–91 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences91–89 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences86–85 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences85–84 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences84–82 Mya — about 4 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 4 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 4 occurrences80–78 Mya — about 4 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 4 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 4 occurrences76–74 Mya — about 4 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 4 occurrences73–72 Mya — about 7 occurrences72–70 Mya — about 12 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 12 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 12 occurrences68–66 Mya — about 12 occurrences66–65 Mya — about 2 occurrences65–64 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences64–62 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences62–61 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences93.9 Mya72.2 Mya101.3 Mya60.9 Mya

94 occurrences of Prognathodon 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

94 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

43 formations

Bearpaw Shale — 49.63°N, 110.85°WBearpaw Shale — 49.68°N, 112.83°WBearpaw Shale — 51.26°N, 112.32°WTorme — 42.67°N, 2.63°WMaastricht — 50.82°N, 5.68°EJagüel — 39.85°S, 66.68°WNavesink — 39.76°N, 75.13°WNavesink — 39.97°N, 74.68°WMocuio — 14.27°S, 12.38°EPierre Shale — 43.53°N, 103.05°WPierre Shale — 43.47°N, 102.75°WGulpen — 50.82°N, 5.68°ENew Egypt — 40.25°N, 74.12°WNew Egypt — 39.73°N, 75.16°WBaculites Limestone — 49.42°N, 1.52°WBaculites Limestone — 49.43°N, 1.35°WSpiennes Chalk — 50.42°N, 3.98°ECiply-Malogne — 50.42°N, 3.99°ESevern — 38.91°N, 76.85°WBlufftown — 32.16°N, 85.03°WTar Heel — 34.57°N, 78.50°WRipley — 35.23°N, 88.61°WRybushka — 51.35°N, 45.04°ECouche III — 32.88°N, 6.62°WLewis Shale — 37.11°N, 106.96°WLaidmore — 43.05°S, 172.76°EConway — 43.06°S, 172.58°EMoreno — 36.70°N, 120.75°WAdaffa — 28.13°N, 35.28°EOpoka — 51.10°N, 21.80°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Prognathodon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 19 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 33 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Prognathodon and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

859 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 80 sites for Prognathodon, 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

62 references

Each of the 94 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. 50 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 Prognathodon

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Prognathodon overtoni · tmp:2007.034.0001

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 itGlobidensini through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

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