Dino card No. 1725 of 2,027

Suevoleviathan

Say it: SWAY-bo-lev-ee-ATH-an

Name means: “Swabian Leviathan”1

Ate: MeatIchthyosaursEarly JurassicNot technically a dinosaur

Suevoleviathan was a giant, fish-like marine reptile that swam in the warm Jurassic seas. It was not a dinosaur, but a kind of ichthyosaur with a long tail and big front flippers.1

Fun fact: this sea reptile swam while dinosaurs walked on land. Everyone calls them dinos, but they were a different branch of reptiles.

Lived

184 to 175 million years ago3

Early Jurassic

Fossils found in

Holzmaden, Germany, and also in France1 3

Food

Meat3 1

Length

4 m1

adult size

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

as long as 4 dogs nose to tailas long as 22 bananas end to end

How big was Suevoleviathan compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

Suevoleviathan had unusually large front flippers compared to other ichthyosaurs, which it used for slow swimming.1

Its tail was very long and flexible, helping it steer at high speeds.1

The front flipper had three main fingers and one extra finger, with the third finger splitting into three rays.1

Scientists think Suevoleviathan gave birth to live young, like other ichthyosaurs.2

Its fossils were found in the Posidonia Shale, a rock layer famous for well-preserved Jurassic sea creatures.1 3

Suevoleviathan lived about 183 to 182 million years ago, during the Early Jurassic period.1

AI-made picture of Suevoleviathan — An AI-made picture of how Suevoleviathan might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Suevoleviathan

?How big was Suevoleviathan?

About 4 metres (13 feet) long.1

?What did Suevoleviathan eat?

It had robust, crenulated teeth, so it likely ate fish and other marine animals.1

?When did Suevoleviathan live?

It lived about 183 to 182 million years ago, during the Early Jurassic period.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Suevoleviathan
Named by: Maisch 19983
Group: Ichthyosaurs
Family / clade: Parvipelvia3
Classification: Ichthyosauria > Ichthyosauromorpha3
Age of the rocks: 184 to 175 million years (Toarcian)3
Rock formations: Posidonia Shale, Posidonienschiefer3
Countries: Germany, France3
Fossil records: 6 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: The genus was named by Michael Maisch in 1998, based on fossils that were originally called Leptopterygius disinteger and Ichthyosaurus integer.1
Still debated: Scientists debate whether the two species, Suevoleviathan disinteger and Suevoleviathan integer, are actually the same species at different growth stages.1

Where the facts come from

Suevoleviathan (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Suevoleviathan in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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