''Malawania'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

basal Basal or basilar is a term meaning ''base'', ''bottom'', or ''minimum''. Science * Basal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location for features associated with the base of an organism or structure * Basal (medicine), a minimal level that is nec ...

thunnosaur Thunnosauria (Greek for "tuna lizard" – ''thunnos'' meaning "tuna" and ''sauros'' meaning "lizard") is an extinct clade of parvipelvian ichthyosaurs from the Early Jurassic to the early Late Cretaceous (Hettangian–Cenomanian) of Asia, Austral ...

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, altho ...

known from the middle

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Pro ...

(

Hauterivian The Hauterivian is, in the geologic timescale, an age in the Early Cretaceous Epoch or a stage in the Lower Cretaceous Series. It spans the time between 132.9 ± 2 Ma and 129.4 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago). The Hauterivian is preceded by the Va ...

Barremian The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale (or a chronostratigraphic stage) between 129.4 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago) and 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma). It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous Epoch (or Lower Cretaceous Series). It is preceded ...

stage) of

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. ''Malawania'' was named by Valentin Fischer, Robert M. Appleby, Darren Naish, Jeff Liston, Riding, J. B., Brindley, S. and Pascal Godefroit in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

and the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

is ''Malawania anachronus''. It is unusual as it is much more primitive than other Cretaceous ichthyosaurs, being most closely related to '' Ichthyosaurus'' from the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic, over 70 million years earlier than ''Malawania'', with all other known ichthyosaurs from the Late Jurassic onwards belonging to the family

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 ex ...

Discovery

The holotype and only known specimen was discovered in 1952 by British petroleum geologists D. M. Morton, F. R. S. Henson, R. J. Wetzel and L. C. F. Damesin while working in Chia Gara, Amadia in Iraqi Kurdistan. The slab was being used to dam a small river and was part of a mule track. It was then transported back to the UK and donated to the Natural History Museum in 1959. Robert M. Appleby would study the specimen for many years until his death in 2004, but never published a paper, one manuscript submitted to ''

Paleontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

'' in 1979 was rejected due to the uncertain provenance of the specimen. The specimen was formally described in 2013 by Fischer and colleagues. Using palynology it was determined that the rocks surrounding the specimen were Hauterivian-Barremian in age, which was unexpected given the archaic nature of the specimen.

Description

Each lacrimal (paired bones at the front edges of the orbits) bears a hollow towards its front edge. Fischer and colleagues speculated that these may have been the location of the

lacrimal glands The lacrimal glands are paired exocrine glands, one for each eye, found in most terrestrial vertebrates and some marine mammals, that secrete the aqueous layer of the tear film. In humans, they are situated in the upper lateral region of each or ...

(which produce the

tear film Tears are a clear liquid secreted by the lacrimal glands (tear gland) found in the eyes of all Mammal, land mammals. Tears are made up of water, electrolytes, proteins, lipids, and mucins that form layers on the surface of eyes. The different ty ...

). The long, backwards projecting processes of the lacrimals extend halfway underneath the orbits (eye sockets). The eyeballs were supported by rings of 13 bones, known as

sclerotic rings Sclerotic rings are rings of bone found in the eyes of many animals in several groups of vertebrates, except for mammals and crocodilians. They can be made up of single bones or multiple segments and take their name from the sclera. They are b ...

. ''Malawania'' has a minimum of five neck vertebrae. While the boundary between them is still demarcated, the first two vertebrae are fused. All of the known

centra Centra is a convenience shop chain that operates throughout Ireland. The chain operates as a symbol group owned by Musgrave Group, the food wholesaler, meaning the stores are all owned by individual franchisees. The chain has three different f ...

(vertebral bodies) are the same length, save for the

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

, which has a length double that of the rest. In some of the trunk vertebrae, the forwards-placed facets for the

rib In vertebrate anatomy, ribs ( la, costae) are the long curved bones which form the rib cage, part of the axial skeleton. In most tetrapods, ribs surround the chest, enabling the lungs to expand and thus facilitate breathing by expanding the ches ...

s flow smoothly together with the edges of the vertebrae. The well-spaced

neural spines The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...

towards the front of the animal have trapezoidal tops, a unique feature of this genus. The cross sections of the ribs are bilobed. Unlike baracromians, the

scapula The scapula (plural scapulae or scapulas), also known as the shoulder blade, is the bone that connects the humerus (upper arm bone) with the clavicle (collar bone). Like their connected bones, the scapulae are paired, with each scapula on eithe ...

e (shoulder blades) of ''Malawania'' have unemarginated front surfaces. The trapezoid-shaped

humeri The humerus (; ) is a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. It connects the scapula and the two bones of the lower arm, the radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extremity consists of a round ...

(upper arm bones) are unusually short, a morphology unique to this genus. The upper end of each humerus bears a backwards-pointing projection known as a capitular process. This trait is also unique to ''Malawania'', with the processes of other ichthyosaurs being semicircular. The humeri do not narrow at their middle, an atypical trait outside of

. The lower ends of the humeri do not broaden significantly, each articulating with two bones, the

radius In classical geometry, a radius ( : radii) of a circle or sphere is any of the line segments from its center to its perimeter, and in more modern usage, it is also their length. The name comes from the latin ''radius'', meaning ray but also the ...

and

ulna The ulna (''pl''. ulnae or ulnas) is a long bone found in the forearm that stretches from the elbow to the smallest finger, and when in anatomical position, is found on the medial side of the forearm. That is, the ulna is on the same side of t ...

. These two six-sided bones are elongate and contact each other across the entirety of their inner margins, without an opening between them. With the exception of the quadrangular radiales (

carpals The carpal bones are the eight small bones that make up the wrist (or carpus) that connects the hand to the forearm. The term "carpus" is derived from the Latin carpus and the Greek καρπός (karpós), meaning "wrist". In human anatomy, the ...

below the radii), most of the hand bones of ''Malawania'' are hexagon-shaped and tightly interlocked, similar to ''

Macgowania ''Macgowania'' is an extinct genus of parvipelvian ichthyosaur known from British Columbia of Canada. History of research ''Macgowania'' is known only from the holotype ROM 41992 ( RBCM EH 91.2.5), a partial skeleton which preserv ...

''. The intermedia (a pair of wrist bones) approach the size of the radii, distinctive of ''Malawania''. Two digits originate from each intermedium, similar to '' Ichthyosaurus''. There are two other digits in the foreflippers of ''Malawania'' for a total of four. The first digit would have had more than nine

phalanges The phalanges (singular: ''phalanx'' ) are digital bones in the hands and feet of most vertebrates. In primates, the thumbs and big toes have two phalanges while the other digits have three phalanges. The phalanges are classed as long bones. ...

(digit bones) when complete, the first of these bearing a notch.

Taxonomy

The name is derived from "

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‘Malawan’: swimmer and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

ized Greek noun in apposition ‘anachronus’ meaning ‘out of time’."

Phylogeny

''Malawania'' was found to be the

sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and t ...

to '' Ichthyosaurus''. Below is a cladogram modified from Fischer ''et al.'', 2013.

References

Early Cretaceous ichthyosaurs Early Cretaceous reptiles of Asia Natural history of Iraq Fossil taxa described in 2013 Taxa named by Darren Naish Ichthyosauromorph genera {{Ichthyosaur-stub