Theriosuchus

Theriosuchus is an extinct genus of atoposaurid neosuchian from Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous of Europe, Southeast Asia (Thailand) and western North America (Wyoming), with fragmentary records from Middle Jurassic and Early Cretaceous sites in China, Morocco, and Scotland.

Theriosuchus

C. L. Griesbach · 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
AtoposauridaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Pseudosuchia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mesoeucrocodylia

Time the record covers

At least 93 million years on record.

The record covers at least 165.3 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 168.6 Mya to 66 Mya.

Middle Jurassic — about 4 of 44 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 10 of 44 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 22 of 44 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 8 of 44 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 44 occurrences171–167 Mya — about 2 occurrences167–164 Mya — about 2 occurrences160–156 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences156–153 Mya — about 1 occurrence153–149 Mya — about 4 occurrences149–146 Mya — about 3 occurrences146–142 Mya — about 5 occurrences142–139 Mya — about 7 occurrences139–135 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences135–132 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences132–128 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences128–124 Mya — about 3 occurrences124–121 Mya — about 7 occurrences103–100 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences100–96 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences96–92 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences82–78 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences78–75 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences75–71 Mya — about 1 occurrence71–68 Mya — about 3 occurrences68–64 Mya — about 1 occurrence165.3 Mya72.2 Mya171 Mya64 Mya

44 occurrences of Theriosuchus on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. 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

44 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

22 formations

Densuș-Ciula — 45.62°N, 22.78°ELulworth — 50.60°N, 1.97°WLulworth — 50.58°N, 1.95°WLourinhã — 39.85°N, 8.62°WLourinhã — 39.22°N, 9.34°WEl Castellar — 40.65°N, 0.89°WEl Castellar — 40.67°N, 0.67°WPhu Kradung — 16.27°N, 104.43°EPhu Kradung — 16.98°N, 102.55°EArcillas de Morella — 40.49°N, 0.42°EArcillas de Morella — 40.62°N, 0.10°WCamarillas — 40.65°N, 0.88°WCamarillas — 40.66°N, 0.86°WSao Khua — 16.89°N, 104.08°ESao Khua — 11.56°N, 102.59°EForest Marble — 51.87°N, 1.27°WBlesa — 40.95°N, 0.77°WArtoles — 40.82°N, 0.28°WQigu — 43.55°N, 87.26°ELa Huérguina — 40.12°N, 1.97°WWadhurst Clay — 50.86°N, 0.44°ERabekke — 55.05°N, 14.80°ELower Kimmeridge marls — 51.90°N, 10.51°ESaint-Chinian — 43.35°N, 2.95°EAnoual — 32.52°N, 3.11°WValtos Sandstone — 57.60°N, 6.16°WKilmaluag — 57.17°N, 6.11°WKsar Metlili — 32.70°N, 3.22°WMorrison — 44.46°N, 104.73°W

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The named rock units Theriosuchus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 8 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Theriosuchus and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Theriosuchus and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

608 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 43 sites for Theriosuchus, 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

23 references

Each of the 44 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. 11 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 content1

Picture of Theriosuchus

Credit
C. L. Griesbach
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Theriosuchus was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itAtoposauridae through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Owen 1878