Thalattosaurus

Thalattosaurus is an extinct genus of marine reptile in the family Thalattosauroidea. Known exclusively from the Triassic period, it was a 2–3 metres (6.6–9.8 ft) long shellfish-eating diapsid with paddle-like limbs and a down-turned rostrum. Fossils were recovered in the Lower and Middle Triassic Sulphur Mountain Formation of British Columbia as well as the Upper Triassic Hosselkus Limestone of California. It has gained notoriety as a result of studies on general diapsid phylogeny.

Thalattosaurus

John C. Merriam · 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
ThalattosauroideaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Thalattosauria

Time the record covers

At least 3.4 million years on record.

The record covers at least 237 Mya to 233.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 247 Mya to 227.3 Mya.

Early Triassic — about 0 of 4 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 2 of 4 occurrencesMiddle TriassicLate Triassic — about 2 of 4 occurrencesLate Triassic248–247 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences247–246 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences246–245 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences245–245 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences245–244 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences244–243 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences243–243 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences243–242 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences242–241 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences241–241 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences241–240 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences240–239 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences239–239 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences239–238 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences238–237 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences237–236 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences236–236 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences236–235 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences235–234 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences234–234 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences234–233 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences233–232 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences232–232 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences232–231 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences231–230 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences230–230 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences230–229 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences229–228 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences228–227 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences227–227 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences237 Mya233.6 Mya247.5 Mya226.8 Mya

4 occurrences of Thalattosaurus on record. 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

4 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

2 formations

Hosselkus — 40.94°N, 122.12°WHosselkus — 40.78°N, 122.22°WSulphur Mountain — 54.52°N, 120.72°W

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

Found in the same rock

10 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 3 sites for Thalattosaurus, 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 4 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 Thalattosaurus

Credit
John C. Merriam
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Thalattosaurus 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 itThalattosauroidea through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Merriam 1904