Jurassic

Oxford Clay (Jurassic) exposed near Weymouth, England.

Bituminous claystone, Lower Jurassic, Hesselberg, Middle Franconia. Sedimentary rock of very thin laminated layers (particles less than 0,0002 mm). Rock formation is known for its rich fossil findings, ex. Ichthyosaur.

Partial skull of Manidens condorensis from the Middle Jurassic Cañadón Asfalto Formation of Argentina. Skull reconstructions in lateral view. Dashed lines indicate estimated edges. Abbreviations: a angular antfo antorbital fossa asaf anterior surangular foramen be buccal emargination bo basioccipital bt basal tubera d dentary d1, 2, 11 dentary tooth 1, 2, 11 emfo external mandibular fossa f frontal gl glenoid gr groove j jugal jfl jugal flange jh jugal horn m maxilla m1, 11 maxillary tooth 1, 11 n nasal pd predentary pm premaxilla po postorbital pof postorbital fossa popr paroccipital process q quadrate qj quadratojugal ri ridge sa surangular sq squamosal.

Known fossil pieces after Aviatyrannis jurassica (Dinosauria, Theropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannosauroidea).[1] Sources ↑ Rauhut O.W.M. (2003), "A tyrannosaurid dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic of Portugal", Paleontology 46(5): p. 903-910.

Kimmerosaurus swims through a shallow jurassic reef in this reconstruction

Ophthalmosaurus icenius, from the time of the Callovian period of the Middle Jurassic. This specimen was found in Oxford Clay, in Peterborough, England. Photo lightly touched up to remove lighting flares.

Fossil samples – e.g. ‘primitive’ bony fish (1, 2), a skull of a temnospondyl ‘amphibian’ (probably a metoposauroid) in dorsal view (3), a skull of an archosaur of the crocodile lineage (probably a phytosaur) in palatal view (4), holotype of the “gliding reptile” Icarosaurus siefkeri [1] (5) and Atreipus-Grallator-type dinosaur tracks (bottom right) – from the Newark Supergroup, i.e. a series of mainly Late Triassic to Early Jurassic sedimentary rocks of eastern North America ↑ Edwin H. Colbert: A gliding reptile from the Triassic of New Jersey. American Museum Novitates, 2230. American Museum of Natural History, New York 1966, digitallibrary.amnh.org, cf. fig. 3 therein.

Phylogenetic relationships, chronostratigraphic, and paleoecological implications of M. intrepidus. a Graphic illustrating temporal range of North American tyrannosauroids including species-level range prior to the discovery of M. intrepidus, extension of current range, and hypothesized range based on isolated teeth12. The current gap in the North American tyrannosauroid record spans from the Tithonian to the Aptian. Faunal composition of Late Cretaceous ecosystems was established between the Albian and Turonian, as recognized by the stratigraphic appearance of major clades (see refs. 7,12 and references therein). b generalized phylogenetic relationships of Tyrannosauroidea, showing the appearance of select traits related to cursoriality in tyrannosaurs that are newly optimized as a result of the discovery of M. intrepidus. Tree topology follows this study using the modified dataset of Carr and colleagues27. Coelurus and Tanycolagreus are grafted as basal tyrannosauroids following Brusatte and colleagues5. c Stratigraphic distribution of Allosauria in North America (incl. Megaraptora but see ref. 70 for alternative hypotheses regarding this clade) documents overlap with M. intrepidus in early Late Cretaceous ecosystems leading to (d) refined calibration on the origin of late diverging tyrannosauroids and clade-level faunal turnover within apex predator roles throughout the Late Jurassic–Late Cretaceous of North America. Colored polygons are stylized call-outs and are not intended to reflect two-dimensional data. Temporal data corresponding to this figure are available in Supplementary Table 5

Life reconstruction of a herd of five individuals of Uragasaurus kalasinensis inhabiting a Late Jurassic forest in Thailand, accompanied by a pair of rhamphorhynchoid pterosaurs and a metriacanthosaurid theropod. Artwork by Pakorn Chotchaiyaporn (Jæsica ẞababi).

Restoration of Pradhania gracilis from the Early Jurassic of India

Campananeyen is a rebbachisaurid sauropod that lived approximately 100 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous of what is now Argentina. Rebbachisaurids are the main group of diplodocoidea to have lived past the Jurassic, and had a more horizontal posture than contemporary sauropods, mainly the titanosaurs. They are unique among sauropods for having batteries of teeth used for chewing, rather than the typical peglike teeth sauropods used to strip leaves off branches.

Huashanosaurus is a basal sauropod dinosaur that lived from the Early to Middle Jurassic periods of what is now China. It was a long-necked herbivore which still exhibited many basal traits of the earlier sauropodomorphs, while transitioning to obligate quardupedality. Huashanosaurus grew to approximately 12 m in length, and weighed around 10 t.

Fujianvenator is an anchiornithid avialan from the Late Jurassic of China, whose discovery gave important insight to the evolution of birds. It had proportionately long legs, with the tibia twice the length of the femur. This suggests it may have been a strong runner, and possibly had a terrestrial or wading lifestyle. Fujianvenator was a small dinosaur, weighing about 640 g. As an avialan, it was almost certainly covered in feathers, though it does not seem likely to have been capable of flight.

Life restoration of the small German Jurassic ichthyosaur Hauffiopteryx typicus. References Maxwell, E. E.; Cortés, D. (2020). "A revision of the Early Jurassic ichthyosaur Hauffiopteryx (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria), and description of a new species from Southwestern Germany". Palaeontologia Electronica 23: 1–43. Archived from the original on 2022-07-06. Retrieved on 2022-03-15. Note: This image is currently uncolored

Reconstruction of Makhaira rossica based on Late Jurassic pliosaurids and mid-Cretaceos brachauchenines; the orange coloured parts indicate fossils preserved in YKM 68249/1-10.

Tongnanlong is a large mamenchisaurid sauropod dinosaur that lived in the Late Jurassic period of what is now China. Typical of mamenchisaurids, it had an extremely long neck, even by sauropod standards. Tongnanlong grew to approximately 25 m in length and weighed 20-30 t, making it one of the largest mamenchisaurids.