Steneosaurus

Steneosaurus is a dubious genus of teleosaurid crocodyliform from the Middle or Late Jurassic of France and possibly also India. The genus has been used as a wastebasket taxon for thalattosuchian fossils for over two centuries, and almost all known historical species of teleosauroid have been included within it at one point. The genus has remained a wastebasket, with numerous species still included under the label 'Steneosaurus', many of which are unrelated to each other.

Steneosaurus

Michela M. Johnson1, Mark T. Young, Stephen L. Brusatte1 · CC BY 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
TeleosauridaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Environment
marinePBDB, for Thalattosuchia

Time the record covers

At least 37 million years on record.

The record covers at least 182.9 Mya to 145.06 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 184.2 Mya to 141 Mya.

Early Jurassic — about 6 of 76 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 45 of 76 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 24 of 76 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 1 of 76 occurrences185–184 Mya — about 2 occurrences184–182 Mya — about 2 occurrences182–181 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences181–179 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences179–178 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences178–176 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences176–175 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences175–173 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences173–172 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences172–170 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences170–169 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences169–167 Mya — about 10 occurrences167–166 Mya — about 13 occurrences166–164 Mya — about 9 occurrences164–163 Mya — about 7 occurrences163–161 Mya — about 6 occurrences161–160 Mya — about 1 occurrence160–158 Mya — about 4 occurrences158–157 Mya — about 2 occurrences157–155 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences155–154 Mya — about 1 occurrence154–152 Mya — about 2 occurrences152–151 Mya — about 3 occurrences151–149 Mya — about 3 occurrences149–148 Mya — about 2 occurrences148–146 Mya — about 2 occurrences146–145 Mya — about 2 occurrences145–143 Mya — about 1 occurrence143–142 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences142–140 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences182.9 Mya145.06 Mya185.1 Mya140.1 Mya

76 occurrences of Steneosaurus on record, most of them in the Middle 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

76 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

19 formations

El Mers — 33.45°N, 4.42°WEl Mers — 33.43°N, 4.40°WEl Mers — 33.48°N, 4.33°WEl Mers — 33.47°N, 4.46°WEl Mers — 33.42°N, 4.45°WOxford Clay — 51.83°N, 0.70°WOxford Clay — 52.57°N, 0.24°WCotswold Slate — 51.02°N, 3.25°WCotswold Slate — 51.90°N, 1.83°WForest Marble — 51.86°N, 1.30°WForest Marble — 51.85°N, 0.10°WChipping Norton Limestone — 51.95°N, 1.75°WChipping Norton Limestone — 51.98°N, 1.65°WKimmeridge Clay — 51.75°N, 1.18°WKimmeridge Clay — 50.63°N, 2.34°WArgiles de Montaubert — 50.73°N, 1.84°EFullers Earth — 50.75°N, 2.33°WMarnes de Dives — 49.40°N, 0.20°WMarnes de Dives — 49.33°N, 0.00°EOrnatenton — 52.28°N, 8.76°ESables de Glos — 49.11°N, 0.38°EGreat Oolite — 52.68°N, 0.46°WCazals — 44.50°N, 1.32°EKandreho — 17.51°S, 45.34°ETechout — 32.87°N, 10.50°EOxford Clay — 50.75°N, 1.80°ELiegende Bankkalk — 48.12°N, 8.87°ECornbrash — 51.83°N, 1.37°WMarnes de Villers — 49.32°N, 0.00°E

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The named rock units Steneosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 35 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Steneosaurus and its relatives

Middle Jurassic

Where Steneosaurus and its relatives were recorded in the Middle Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

314 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 63 sites for Steneosaurus, 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

38 references

Each of the 76 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. 26 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 Steneosaurus

Credit
Michela M. Johnson1, Mark T. Young, Stephen L. Brusatte1
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Steneosaurus sp. · NHMUK:PAL:PV OR 33095

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 itTeleosauridae through timeFormations of the Middle JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0.