Tithonian

The Tithonian is the final stage of the Late Jurassic Epoch. It spans the time between 150.8 ± 4 Ma and 145.5 ± 4 Ma (million years ago). It is followed by the Berriasian stage of the Early Cretaceous Epoch.

The name is unusual in geological stage names because it is derived from Greek mythology. Tithonus was the son of Laomedon of Troy. He fell in love with Eos, the Greek goddess of dawn and finds his place in the stratigraphy because this stage, the Tithonian, finds itself hand in hand with the dawn of the Cretaceous.


Contents

Vertebrate Fauna

Ankylosaurs

Ankylosauria of the Tithonian
Taxa Presence Location Description Images
Morrison Formation, Wyoming, USA The smallest and the earliest well-known ankylosaur. Its skull measures only 29 cm in length, and its total body length is an estimated three to four meters.
Gargoyleosaurus skeleton
  • Mymoorapelta maysi
 Morrison Formation, Colorado, USA A poorly known early ankylosaurian.

Ceratopsians

Ceratopsia of the Tithonian
Taxa Presence Location Description Images
 ? Chaoyang area, Liaoning, China One of the earliest ceratopsians
Chaoyangsaurus
Hebei, China A member of the family Chaoyangsauridae, it was one of the earliest ceratopsians

Ornithopods

Ornithopoda of the Tithonian
Taxa Presence Location Description Images
Kimmeridgian to ?Berriasian Wyoming, USA; England; France Camptosaurus could be more than 7.9 meters long (26 ft), and 2.0 meters tall (6.7 ft) at the hips. It had heavy bodies but, as well as walking on four legs (quadrupedal), they could rear up to walk on two legs (bipedal). This genus is probably closely related to the ancestor of the later iguanodontid and hadrosaurid dinosaurs. It probably ate cycads with its parrot-like beak.
Camptosaurus
Dryosaurus
Othnielosaurus
Lourinhã, Portugal A camptosaurid iguanodont

Stegosaurs

Stegosaurs of the Tithonian
Taxa Presence Location Description Images
Kimmeridgian to Early Tithonian Morrison Formation, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, USA Averaging around 9 metres (30 ft) long and 4 metres (14 ft) tall, the quadrupedal Stegosaurus is one of the most easily identifiable dinosaurs, due to the distinctive double row of kite-shaped plates rising vertically along its arched back and the two pairs of long spikes extending horizontally near the end of its tail.
Stegosaurus

Sauropoda

Sauropoda of the Tithonian
Taxa Presence Location Description Images

Thalattosuchians

Thalattosuchians of the Tithonian
Taxa Presence Location Description Images
  1. Dakosaurus maximus
  2. Dakosaurus andiniensis

A large genus of metriorhynchid, that was a high order predator which fed on other marine reptiles

  1. The type species from Western Europe of the Late Jurassic (Early Tithonian).
  2. Argentina of the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous (Early Tithonian), knicknamed "Godzilla".
Dakosaurus, a marine crocodilian.
Geosaurus, a marine crocodilian.
Metriorhynchus, a marine crocodilian.
  1. G. giganteus
  2. G. gracilis
  3. G. suevicus:
  4. G. saltillense:
  5. G. vignaudi:
  6. G. araucanensis:
  1. Western Europe
  2. Western Europe
  3. Western Europe
  4. Mexico
  5. Mexico
  6. Argentina

A relatively small metriorhynchid genus. No known species of Geosaurus attained lengths in excess of 3 meters (10 feet). There were multiple Geosaurus species alive during the Tithonian.

  1. The type species from Western Europe of the Late Jurassic (Early Tithonian).
  2. Western Europe of the Late Jurassic (Early Tithonian). Was originally the type species of the genus Rhacheosaurus.
  3. Western Europe of the Late Jurassic (Early Tithonian)
  4. Mexico of the Late Jurassic (Early Tithonian)
  5. Mexico of the Late Jurassic (Middle Tithonian)
  6. Argentina of the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous (Early Tithonian)
M. potens
 An opportunistic carnivore that fed on fish, belemnites and other marine animals and possible carrion. Metriorhynchus grew to an average adult length of 3 meters (9.6 feet).

Invertebrate Fauna

Belemnites

Belemnites of the Tithonian
Taxa Presence Location Description Images
Small belemnite fossils

References

Jurassic period
Lower/Early Jurassic Middle Jurassic Upper/Late Jurassic
Hettangian | Sinemurian
Pliensbachian | Toarcian		 Aalenian | Bajocian
Bathonian | Callovian		 Oxfordian | Kimmeridgian
Tithonian

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  • This page was last modified on 28 December 2008, at 13:51.

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