Tatenectes laramiensis

Tatenectes is a genus of cryptoclidid plesiosaur known from the Upper Jurassic of Wyoming, United States. Its remains were recovered from the Redwater Shale Member of the Sundance Formation, and initially described as a new species of Cimoliosaurus by Wilbur Clinton Knight in 1900. It was reassigned to Tricleidus by Maurice G. Mehl in 1912 before being given its own genus by O'Keefe and Wahl in 2003. Tatenectes laramiensis is the type and only species of Tatenectes. While the original specimen was lost, subsequent discoveries have revealed that Tatenectes was a very unusual plesiosaur. Its torso had a flattened, boxy cross-section and its gastralia exhibit pachyostosis (thickening). The total length of Tatenectes has been estimated at 2–3 meters (6.6–9.8 ft).

Tatenectes laramiensis

Maurice G Mehl · Public Domain · 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
TatenectesPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Plesiosauria
Life habit
aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Plesiosauria
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Plesiosauria
Environment
marinePBDB, for Plesiosauria

Time the record covers

At most 6.7 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 161.5 Mya and 154.8 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Middle Jurassic — about 0 of 3 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 3 of 3 occurrencesLate Jurassic162–161 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences161–161 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences161–161 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences161–161 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences161–160 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences160–160 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences160–160 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences160–160 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences160–159 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences159–159 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences159–159 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences159–159 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences159–158 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences158–158 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences158–158 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences158–158 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences158–157 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences157–157 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences157–157 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences157–157 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences157–156 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences156–156 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences156–156 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences156–156 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences156–155 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences155–155 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences155–155 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences155–155 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences162 Mya154.3 Mya

3 occurrences of Tatenectes laramiensis on record, most of them in the Late 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

3 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

1 formation

Sundance — 43.55°N, 107.77°WSundance — 44.84°N, 111.73°WSundance — 44.60°N, 107.76°W

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

Tatenectes laramiensis and its relatives

Late Jurassic

Where Tatenectes laramiensis and its relatives were recorded in the Late Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

1 taxon

The Paleobiology Database records 3 sites for Tatenectes laramiensis, 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

3 references

Each of the 3 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. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Tatenectes laramiensis

Credit
Maurice G Mehl
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itTatenectes through timeFormations of the Late JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Knight 1900)