Saurorhynchus

Saurorhynchus is an extinct genus of carnivorous bony fish that lived during the Early and Middle Jurassic epochs. Fossils have been found in Europe and North America (Canada). It is commonly found in pelagic and lagoonal deposits, but mostly marine. Largest specimens can grow up to 50 centimetres (1.6 ft).

Saurorhynchus

YellowPanda2001 · CC0 · 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
SaurichthyidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Saurichthyidae
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Saurichthyidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes

Time the record covers

At least 18 million years on record.

The record covers at least 192.9 Mya to 174.7 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 199.5 Mya to 170.9 Mya.

Early Jurassic — about 30 of 32 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 2 of 32 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic200–199 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences199–198 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences198–197 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences197–196 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences196–195 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences195–194 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences194–193 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences193–192 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences192–191 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences191–190 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences190–189 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences189–188 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences188–187 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences187–186 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences186–185 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences185–184 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences184–183 Mya — about 13 occurrences183–182 Mya — about 5 occurrences182–181 Mya — about 1 occurrence181–180 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences180–179 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences179–178 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences178–177 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences177–176 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences176–175 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences175–174 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences174–173 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences173–172 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences172–171 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences171–170 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences192.9 Mya174.7 Mya200.1 Mya170.3 Mya

32 occurrences of Saurorhynchus on record, most of them in the Early Jurassic. 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

32 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

5 formations

Posidonienschiefer — 48.64°N, 9.62°EPosidonienschiefer — 48.22°N, 8.78°EPosidonienschiefer — 52.10°N, 10.34°EPosidonienschiefer — 48.63°N, 9.52°EPosidonienschiefer — 48.65°N, 9.53°EPosidonienschiefer — 52.27°N, 10.68°EPosidonienschiefer — 48.65°N, 9.55°EOpalinuston — 48.71°N, 9.69°EOpalinuston — 48.66°N, 9.64°EFernie — 51.76°N, 115.52°WFernie — 50.89°N, 114.76°WPosidonia Shale — 48.63°N, 9.52°EPosidonia Shale — 48.65°N, 9.52°ENumismalismergel — 48.89°N, 10.10°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Saurorhynchus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 15 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Saurorhynchus and its relatives

Early Jurassic

Where Saurorhynchus and its relatives were recorded in the Early Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

89 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 30 sites for Saurorhynchus, 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

6 references

Each of the 32 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. 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 Saurorhynchus

Credit
YellowPanda2001
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Saurorhynchus 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 itSaurichthyidae through timeFormations of the Early JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Reis 1892