Ophthalmosaurus

Dolphin-shaped sea reptiles: fast swimmers with huge eyes that gave birth to live young at sea instead of laying eggs on land.

Who it is related to: A branch of reptiles separate from the dinosaurs; exactly where it sits on the family tree is still debated.

This page has only the scientific data from the databases; there is no hand-written description yet.

Dinosaurs from the same rocks

Ophthalmosaurus was found in the Oxford Clay, which also holds these dinosaurs: the same region and broad span of time.

Sarcolestes

Callovosaurus

Cetiosauriscus

Eustreptospondylus

Metriacanthosaurus

Formation data from the Paleobiology Database, counting only each genus's main formations. One formation can span hundreds of thousands to millions of years, so this doesn't mean any two of them ever met.

Scientific details

Group: Ichthyosaurs
Family: Ophthalmosauridae
When it lived: 132.6–201.4 million years ago
Geologic stages: Hettangian – Valanginian
Named by: Seeley, 1874
Fossil occurrences: 27 sites

Countries with fossils

Argentina
France
Greenland
Mexico
Russia
United Kingdom
United States

Data from Paleobiology Database and Wikidata