Shonisaurus

Shonisaurus is a genus of very large ichthyosaurs. At least 37 incomplete fossil specimens of the type species, Shonisaurus popularis, have been found in the Luning Formation of Nevada, United States. This formation dates to the late Carnian-early Norian age of the Late Triassic, around 227 million years ago. Other possible species of Shonisaurus have been discovered from the middle Norian deposits of Canada and Alaska.

Shonisaurus

★Kumiko★ from Tokyo, Japan · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 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
ShastasauridaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Ichthyosauria
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Ichthyopterygia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Ichthyosauria
Environment
marinePBDB, for Ichthyosauria

Time the record covers

At least 21 million years on record.

The record covers at least 227.3 Mya to 205.7 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 233.6 Mya to 201.4 Mya.

Late Triassic — about 5 of 5 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 5 occurrences234–233 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences233–232 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences232–231 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences231–230 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences230–229 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences229–228 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences228–226 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences226–225 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences225–224 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences224–223 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences223–222 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences222–221 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences221–220 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences220–219 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences219–218 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences218–216 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences216–215 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences206–205 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences205–204 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences204–203 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences203–202 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences202–201 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences227.3 Mya205.7 Mya234.2 Mya200.8 Mya

5 occurrences of Shonisaurus on record, most of them in the Late 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

5 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

3 formations

Luning — 38.88°N, 117.59°WDurrenstein — 46.53°N, 12.13°EExter — 51.57°N, 9.05°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Shonisaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Shonisaurus and its relatives

Late Triassic

Where Shonisaurus and its relatives were recorded in the Late Triassic.

Found in the same rock

13 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 3 sites for Shonisaurus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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

4 references

Each of the 5 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 content3

Picture of Shonisaurus

Credit
★Kumiko★ from Tokyo, Japan
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Shonisaurus silberlingi · NVSMLV:VM:2014-057-FS-006-001

3D model

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

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 itShastasauridae through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Camp 1976