Teleosaurus

Teleosaurus is an extinct genus of teleosaurid crocodyliform found in the Middle Jurassic Calcaire de Caen Formation of France. It was approximately 3 metres (10 ft) in length. The holotype is MNHN AC 8746, a quarter of a skull and other associated postcranial remains, while other fragmentary specimens are known. The type species is T. cadomensis, but a second species, T. geoffroyi may also exist. It was previously considered a wastebasket taxon, with many other remains assigned to the genus.

Teleosaurus

Ward. · Public Domain · via Wikidata/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
TeleosaurinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Thalattosuchia
Environment
marinePBDB, for Thalattosuchia

Time the record covers

At least 53 million years on record.

The record covers at least 174.7 Mya to 121.4 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 184.2 Mya to 119.57 Mya.

Early Jurassic — about 2 of 20 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 11 of 20 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 5 of 20 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 2 of 20 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous185–183 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences183–181 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences181–179 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences179–177 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences177–174 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences174–172 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences172–170 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences170–168 Mya — about 2 occurrences168–165 Mya — about 8 occurrences165–163 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences156–154 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences154–152 Mya — about 2 occurrences152–150 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences150–147 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences147–145 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences145–143 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences138–136 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences136–134 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences134–132 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences123–121 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences121–118 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences174.7 Mya121.4 Mya185 Mya118 Mya

20 occurrences of Teleosaurus 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

20 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

12 formations

Cotswold Slate — 51.90°N, 1.83°WCotswold Slate — 51.02°N, 3.25°WPierre de Caen — 49.15°N, 0.36°WMarnes à Deltoideum delta — 49.52°N, 0.10°ETaynton Limestone — 51.85°N, 1.43°WKimmeridge Clay — 51.75°N, 1.16°WKimmeridge Clay — 51.75°N, 1.18°WChipping Norton Limestone — 51.95°N, 1.75°WGreat Oolite — 52.68°N, 0.46°WWadhurst Clay — 50.90°N, 0.51°EWhite Limestone — 51.85°N, 1.42°WSharp's Hill — 51.91°N, 1.58°WZiliujing — 29.84°N, 105.66°EWoburn Sand — 52.12°N, 0.20°E

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The named rock units Teleosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Teleosaurus and its relatives

Middle Jurassic

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

Found in the same rock

95 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 16 sites for Teleosaurus, 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

12 references

Each of the 20 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 content2

Picture of Teleosaurus

Credit
Ward.
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

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

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itTeleosaurinae through timeFormations of the Middle JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Geoffroy 1825