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Baptanodon
''Baptanodon'' is an ichthyosaur of the Late Jurassic period (160-156 million years ago), named for its supposed lack of teeth (although teeth of this genus have since been discovered). It had a graceful long dolphin-shaped body, and its jaws were well adapted for catching squid. Major fossil finds of this genus have been recorded in North America. The type species, ''Sauranodon natans'', was originally included under ''Sauranodon'' in 1879,O. C. Marsh. 1879. A new order of extinct reptiles (Sauranodonta), from the Jurassic Formation of the Rocky Mountains. ''The American Journal of Science and Arts, series 3'' but this name was preoccupied. Discovery and species ''Baptanodon'' is a replacement name for ''Sauranodon'' applied to ichthyosaur material in 1879 and was moved to its own genus ''Baptanodon'' in 1880 when ''Sauranodon'' was found to be preoccupied. ''Baptanodon'' was considered a junior synonym of ''Ophthalmosaurus'' by Maisch & Matzke (2000).Maisch MW, Matzke AT. 2000. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acamptonectes
''Acamptonectes'' is a genus of ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaurs, a type of dolphin-like marine reptiles, that lived during the Early Cretaceous around 130 million years ago. The first specimen, a partial adult skeleton, was discovered in Speeton, England, in 1958, but was not formally described until 2012 by Valentin Fischer and colleagues. They also recognised a partial subadult skeleton belonging to the genus from Cremlingen, Germany, and specimens from other localities in England. The genus contains the single species ''Acamptonectes densus''; the generic name means "rigid swimmer" and the specific name means "compact" or "tightly packed". The generic name refers to unusual adaptations in the body of ''Acamptonectes'' that made its trunk rigid, including tightly fitting bones in the occiput (back and lower part of the skull) and interlocking vertebral centra ("bodies" of the vertebrae), which were likely adaptations that enabled it to swim at high speeds with a tuna-like ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ophthalmosaurus
''Ophthalmosaurus'' (meaning "eye lizard" in Greek) is an ichthyosaur of the Jurassic period (165–150 million years ago). Possible remains from the Cretaceous, around 145 million years ago, are also known. It was a relatively medium-sized ichthyosaur, measuring long and weighing . Named for its extremely large eyes, it had a jaw containing many small but robust teeth. Major fossil finds of this genus have been recorded in Europe with a second species possibly being found in North America. Description ''Ophthalmosaurus'' was a medium-sized ichthyosaur, measuring long and weighing . It had a robust, streamlined body that was nearly as wide as it was tall in frontal view. Like other derived ichthyosaurs ''Ophthalmosaurus'' had a powerful tail ending in a pronounced bi-lobed caudal fluke whose lower half was formed around the caudal spine whereas the upper lobe was made up entirely from soft tissue. The limbs of ''Ophthalmosaurus'' were short and rounded with the forelimbs bein ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ophthalmosaurinae
Ophthalmosaurinae is an extinct subfamily of ophthalmosaurid thunnosaur ichthyosaurs from the Middle Jurassic to the late Early Cretaceous (Bajocian - Albian) of Europe, North America and South America. Currently, the oldest and the basalmost known ophthalmosaurine is ''Mollesaurus'' from the early Bajocian of Argentina. Ophthalmosaurines were characterized by a large extracondylar area of the basioccipital in the form of a thick and concave peripheral band, posterodistally deflected ulnar facet of the humerus, large ulna with concave and edgy posterior surface and ischiopubis with obturator foramen. Phylogeny Ophthalmosaurinae was named in 1887 by George H. Baur. It is a stem-based taxon defined phylogenetically for the first time by Fischer ''et al.'' (2012) as "all taxa closer to ''Ophthalmosaurus icenicus'' than to '' Platypterygius hercynicus''". The cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megalneusaurus
''Megalneusaurus'' is an extinct genus of large pliosaur that lived in the Sundance Sea during the Kimmeridgian, ~156-152 million years ago, in the Late Jurassic. It was named by paleontologist W. C. Knight in 1895. The genus and type species was based upon ribs, vertebrae, a fore-paddle and fragments of the pectoral girdle discovered in the Sundance Formation in Wyoming, USA in 1895.Knight WC. 1895 A new Jurassic plesiosaur from Wyoming. ''Science'' 2: 449. The species named as ''Megalneusaurus rex'' (meaning "great swimming lizard king") in 1898.Knight WC. 1898. Some new Jurassic vertebrates from Wyoming. ''American Journal of Science'' 4: 378-381. However some of this material has since been lost, although new material has been discovered from the same site.Wahl WR, Ross M, Massare JA. 2007. Rediscovery of Wilbur Knight’s ''Megalneusaurus rex'' site: new material from an old pit. ''Paludicola'' 6 (2): 94-104. Based upon the bones very large size, it appears to have grown to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tatenectes
''Tatenectes'' is a genus of cryptoclidid plesiosaur known from the Upper Jurassic of Wyoming. Its remains were recovered from the Redwater Shale Member of the Sundance Formation, and initially described as a new species of '' Cimoliosaurus'' by Wilbur Clinton Knight in 1900. It was reassigned to '' Tricleidus'' by Maurice G. Mehl in 1912 before being given its own genus by O'Keefe and Wahl in 2003. ''Tatenectes laramiensis'' is the type and only species of ''Tatenectes''. While the original specimen was lost, subsequent discoveries have revealed that ''Tatenectes'' was a very unusual plesiosaur. Its torso had a flattened, boxy cross-section and its gastralia (belly ribs) exhibit pachyostosis (thickening). The total length of ''Tatenectes'' has been estimated at . ''Tatenectes'' is related to '' Kimmerosaurus'', although their taxonomic placement has varied. They were once considered to be close relatives of ''Aristonectes'' in the family Cimoliasauridae or Aristonect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ichthyosaur
Ichthyosaurs (Ancient Greek for "fish lizard" – and ) are large extinct marine reptiles. Ichthyosaurs belong to the order known as Ichthyosauria or Ichthyopterygia ('fish flippers' – a designation introduced by Sir Richard Owen in 1842, although the term is now used more for the parent clade of the Ichthyosauria). Ichthyosaurs thrived during much of the Mesozoic era; based on fossil evidence, they first appeared around 250 million years ago ( Ma) and at least one species survived until about 90 million years ago, into the Late Cretaceous. During the Early Triassic epoch, ichthyosaurs and other ichthyosauromorphs evolved from a group of unidentified land reptiles that returned to the sea, in a development similar to how the mammalian land-dwelling ancestors of modern-day dolphins and whales returned to the sea millions of years later, which they gradually came to resemble in a case of convergent evolution. Ichthyosaurs were particularly abundant in the Late Triassic a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Timeline Of Ichthyosaur Research
This timeline of ichthyosaur research is a chronological listing of events in the history of paleontology focused on the ichthyosauromorphs, a group of secondarily aquatic marine reptiles whose later members superficially resembled dolphins, sharks, or swordfish. Scientists have documented ichthyosaur fossils at least as far back as the late 17th century. At that time, a scholar named Edward Lhwyd published a book on British fossils that misattributed some ichthyosaur vertebrae to actual fishes; their true nature was not recognized until the 19th century. In 1811, a boy named Joseph Anning discovered the first ichthyosaur fossils that would come to be scientifically recognized as such. His sister Mary would later find the rest of its skeleton and would go on to become a respected fossil collector and paleontologist in her own right. Early researchers recognized ichthyosaurs as marine reptiles, but major aspects of their anatomy and behavior needed to be resolved. They were freque ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sundance Formation
The Sundance Formation is a western North American sequence of Middle Jurassic to Upper Jurassic age Dating from the Bathonian to the Oxfordian, around 168-157 Ma, It is up to 100 metres thick and consists of marine shale, sandy shale, sandstone, and limestone deposited in the Sundance Sea, an inland sea that covered large parts of western North America during the Middle and early Late Jurassic. Geology The Sundance Formation underlies the western North American Morrison Formation, the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in the Americas, and is separated by a disconformity from the underlying Middle Jurassic Gypsum Springs Formation. Fossils The Sundance Formation is known for fossils of an extinct species of marine cephalopod, the belemnite '' Pachyteuthis densus'', as well as several extinct species of oyster, including ''Deltoideum'', ''Liostrea'', and ''Gryphaea nebrascensis''. Fossil dinosaur 'footprints' on an ancient ocean shoreline are preserved in the format ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ichthyosaurus
''Ichthyosaurus'' (derived from Greek ' () meaning 'fish' and ' () meaning 'lizard') is a genus of ichthyosaurs from the Early Jurassic ( Hettangian - Pliensbachian), with possible Late Triassic record, from Europe (Belgium, England, Germany, Switzerland, and Portugal). It is among the best known ichthyosaur genera, as it is the type genus of the order Ichthyosauria.Maisch MW, Matzke AT. 2000. The Ichthyosauria. ''Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, Serie B (Geologie und Paläontologie)'' 298: 1-159McGowan C, Motani R. 2003. Ichthyopterygia. – In: Sues, H.-D. (ed.): ''Handbook of Paleoherpetology, Part 8, Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil'', 175 pp., 101 figs., 19 plts; MünchenMaisch MW, Reisdorf AG, Schlatter R, Wetzel A. 2008. A large skull of Ichthyosaurus (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria) from the Lower Sinemurian (Lower Jurassic) of Frick (NW Switzerland). ''Swiss Journal of Geosciences'' 101: 617-627. History of discovery ''Ichthyosaurus'' was the first complete fossil to be discov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pantosaurus
''Pantosaurus'' ("all lizard") is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the Late Jurassic ( Oxfordian) of what is now Wyoming. It lived in what used to be the Sundance Sea. It was originally named ''Parasaurus'' ("near lizard") by Othniel Charles Marsh in reference to ''Plesiosaurus'', but that name was preoccupied, and Marsh changed it. The species ''Muraenosaurus reedii'' is in fact a junior synonym of ''Pantosaurus''. The holotype YPM 543 is a partial articulated skeleton, partially prepared to yield a distal humerus, four articulated carpals, a fragment of the coracoid, and several isolated cervical vertebrae from the Upper Member of the Sundance Formation. Other material includes USNM 536963, USNM 536965, UW 3, UW 5544 and UW 15938. Palaeobiology ''Pantosaurus'' possesses between 35 and 40 cervical vertebrae, which are very similar in proportion and morphology to those of '' Muraenosaurus leedsii'' from the Oxford Clay Formation (Callovian, Middle Jurassic) of England. The for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ophthalmosauridae
Ophthalmosauridae is an extinct family of thunnosaur ichthyosaurs from the Middle Jurassic to the early Late Cretaceous (Bajocian - Cenomanian) worldwide. Almost all ichthyosaurs from the Middle Jurassic onwards belong to the family, until the extinction of ichthyosaurs in the early Late Cretaceous. Opthalmosaurids appeared worldwide during early Bajocian, subsequent to the disappearance of most other ichthyosaur lineages after the end of the Toarcian. Currently, the oldest known ophthalmosaurids is ''Mollesaurus'' from the early Bajocian of Argentina, as well as indeterminate remains of the same age from Luxembourg and Canada. Named by George H. Baur, in 1887, the family contains the basal taxa like ''Ophthalmosaurus''. Appleby (1956) named the taxon Ophthalmosauria which was followed by some authors, but these two names are often treated as synonyms; Ophthalmosauridae has the priority over Ophthalmosauria. However, some researchers argue that Ophthalmosauridae should be restricte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
