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The Oxfordian stage is the first stage of the Late Jurassic Epoch. It spans the time between 161.2 ± 4 Ma and 155.7 ± 4 Ma (million years ago).

The stage takes its name from the city of Oxford in England.

Vertebrate Fauna[]

Ornithischians[]

Ornithischians of the Oxfordian
Taxa Presence Location Description Images
Oxfordian? Tithonian? Chaoyang, Liaoning, China A marginocephalian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of China, belonged to the Ceratopsia, a group of primarily herbivorous dinosaurs with parrot-like beaks
Chaoyangsaurus BW

Chaoyangsaurus

Chialingosaurus BW

Chialingosaurus

Chungkingosaurus jiangbeiensis

Chungkingosaurus

Dacentrurus

Dacentrurus

Tuojiangosaurus

Tuojiangosaurus

Yinlong BW

Yinlong

Upper Shaximiao Formation, Sichuan, China A genus of stegosaur similar to Kentrosaurus
Upper Shaximiao Formation, Sichuan, China One of the smallest of the stegosaurids at 3-4 metres long (10-13 ft), Chungkingosaurus had at least five spikes on its thagomizer. It had a rather high and narrow skull and large, thick bony plates.
England, France, Spain, Portugal A large stegosaurid
  • Eugongbusaurus
Shishugou Formation, Xinjiang, China Either a hypsilophodont, or a less-derived ornithischian
Dashanpu Formation, Sichuan, China By extrapolation from the remains of possible species and other basal ornithopods, it was a herbivorous bipedal animal around 1.3 to 1.5 meters long (4.3 to 4.9 ft). It would have been a strong runner
Junggar Basin, Xinjiang, China A genus of stegosaurid
Upper Shaximiao Formation, Sichuan, China The best understood of the Chinese stegosaurs. It was around 7.0 meters (23 ft) long and 2 meters (7 ft) high, with a postulated weight of around 4 metric tons (4.4 short tons).
Shishugou Formation, Xinjiang, China A small, primarily bipedal herbivore, approximately 1.2 meters (4 ft) long, the oldest and most primitive ceratopsian known to science.

Thalattosuchians[]

Thalattosuchians of the Oxfordian
Taxa Presence Location Description Images
Geosaurus BW

Geosaurus

Metriorhynchus BW

Metriorhynchus, a marine crocodilian.

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), although some individuals may have reached lengths rivaling those of large nile crocodiles.

Theropods[]

Theropoda of the Oxfordian
Taxa Presence Location Description Images
Upper Shaximiao Formation, Sichuan, China Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis reached about 7 metres long (23 ft) with a skull around 80 cm long (32 in). Its relative Y. magnus grew larger still: up to 10 metres long (33 ft) with a skull up to 1 metre (3 ft) in length. There was a bony knob on its nose and multiple hornlets and ridges, similar to Ceratosaurus. It had a massive tail that was about half its length.
Yanchuanosaurus1

Yangchuanosaurus

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Invertebrate Fauna[]

Nautiloids[]

Nautiloids of the Oxfordian
Taxa Presence Location Description Images
  • Somalinautilus
Cameroceras trentonese

An illustration of a variety of fossil nautiloids.

Belemnites[]

Belemnites of the Oxfordian
Taxa Presence Location Description Images
  • Produvalia
Belmnites

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


Geological time spiral
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