Baptanodon

Baptanodon
Temporal range: Late Jurassic, 160–156 Ma
↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Reptilia
Order:†Ichthyosauria
Family:†Ophthalmosauridae
Subfamily:†Ophthalmosaurinae
Genus:†Baptanodon
Marsh, 1880
Species
Synonyms
  • Sauranodon Marsh, 1879 (preoccupied)
  • Microdontosaurus Gilmore, 1902

Baptanodon (meaning “eye lizard” in Greek) is an ichthyosaur of the Late Jurassic period (160-156 million years ago), named for its extremely large eyes. It had a graceful 6 m (19.5 ft) long dolphin-shaped body, and its almost toothless jaw was well adapted for catching squid. Major fossil finds of this genus have been recorded in North America.

Discovery and species

Baptanodon was considered a junior synonym of Ophthalmosaurus by Maisch & Matzke (2000).[1] However, cladistic analyses published in the 2010s indicate that Baptanodon is not congeneric with Ophthalmosaurus icenicus,[2][3][4]

Classification

The cladogram below follows Fischer et al. 2012.[3]

Thunnosauria 

 

Ichthyosaurus

 
 

 

Stenopterygius

 
 

 

Chacaicosaurus

 
 Ophthalmosauridae 

 

Arthropterygius

 
*

 Ophthalmosaurinae 

 

Mollesaurus

 
 

 

Ophthalmosaurus

 
 

 

Baptanodon

 
 

Acamptonectes

 
 
 
 
 Platypterygiinae 

 

 

Brachypterygius

 
 

 

Maiaspondylus

 
 

 

Aegirosaurus

 
 

Sveltonectes

 
 
 
 
 

 

"Platypterygius" hercynicus

 
 

 

Caypullisaurus

 
 

 

Athabascasaurus

 
 

"Platypterygius" australis (=Longirostria)[5]

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Palaeobiology

Fossils of Baptanodon have been found in the Oxfordian-age Sundance Formation of Wyoming, which also has yielded fossils of the cryptoclidids Tatenectes and Pantosaurus, and the pliosaurid Megalneusaurus.[6][7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Maisch MW, Matzke AT. 2000. The Ichthyosauria. Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde Serie B (Geologie und Paläontologie) 298: 1-159.
  2. ↑ Patrick S. Druckenmiller and Erin E. Maxwell (2010). "A new Lower Cretaceous (lower Albian) ichthyosaur genus from the Clearwater Formation, Alberta, Canada". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 47 (8): 1037–1053. Bibcode:2010CaJES..47.1037D. doi:10.1139/E10-028.
  3. 1 2 Valentin Fischer; et al. (2012). "New Ophthalmosaurid Ichthyosaurs from the European Lower Cretaceous Demonstrate Extensive Ichthyosaur Survival across the Jurassic–Cretaceous Boundary". PLoS ONE. 7 (1): e29234. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...729234F. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0029234. PMC 3250416. PMID 22235274.
  4. ↑ Ilaria Paparella; Erin E. Maxwell; Angelo Cipriani; Scilla Roncacè; Michael W. Caldwell (2017). "The first ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur from the Upper Jurassic of the Umbrian–Marchean Apennines (Marche, Central Italy)". Geological Magazine. 154 (4): 837–858. doi:10.1017/S0016756816000455.
  5. ↑ Arkhangel’sky, M. S., 1998, On the Ichthyosaurian Genus Platypterygius: Palaeontological Journal, v. 32, n. 6, p. 611-615.
  6. ↑ Marsh, O. C., 1880, Note on Sauranodon: American Journal of Science, 3rd series, v. 19, n. 4, p. 491.
  7. ↑ Marsh, O. C., 1895, The Reptilia of the Baptanodon Beds: American Journal of Science, 3rd series, v. 34., n. 299, p. 405-406.
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