Platypterygius

Platypterygius
Temporal range: Late Hauterivian-Late Cenomanian
~130–94.3 Ma
P. americanus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Order: Ichthyosauria
Family: Ophthalmosauridae
Subfamily: Platypterygiinae
Genus: Platypterygius
von Huene, 1922
Species
  • P. platydactylus Broilli, 1907 type
  • P. americanus Nace, 1939
  • P. australis McCoy, 1867
  • P. hautali von Huene, 1927
  • P. hercynicus Kuhn, 1946
  • P. kiprijanoffi Romer, 1968
  • P. ochevi Arkhangel’sky et al., 2008[1]
  • P. sachicarum Páramo, 1997
Synonyms
  • Plutoniosaurus Efimov, 1997

Platypterygius is an ichthyosaur of the family Ophthalmosauridae. It is most closely related to the genera Caypullisaurus and Brachypterygius.[2] The ichthyosaur lived from the Early Cretaceous (Hauterivian) to the earliest Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) and had a cosmopolitan distribution.

Description

Restoration of P. longmani

Platypterygius reached a length of about 7 metres (23 ft). It had a long snout and a powerful finned tail. There are more digits in the front flippers than is usual in ichthyosaurs; they are tightly bound in rows, giving a broad, flat appearance . This unusual characteristic gives the genus its name, meaning 'flat wing.' Furthermore, some of the wrist bones have disappeared entirely. CAT scans on a juvenile specimen strongly suggest that Platypterygius was deaf.

Discovery and species

Fossils of Platypterygius are known from:[3]

There are eight named species. Both adults and juveniles have been unearthed, including newborns and pregnant females which indicate that, like other ichthyosaurs, Platypterygius gave live birth.

The remains from Australia were originally called Ichthyosaurus australis. They are from the Toolebuc Formation and Allaru Mudstone (Albian, Lower Cretaceous) of Flinders River and other localities in north central Queensland. In 1990 Wade erected the species name P. longmani to include all remains previously referred to I. australis.

Classification

Skull of P. sachicarum in the Paleontological Museum in Villa de Leyva, Colombia

The cladogram below follows the topology from a 2010 analysis by Patrick S. Druckenmiller and Erin E. Maxwell.[6]

Thunnosauria 

 

Ichthyosaurus

 
 

 

Stenopterygius

 
 

 

"Ophthalmosaurus" natans

 
 Ophthalmosauridae 

 

 

Aegirosaurus

 
 

Ophthalmosaurus

 
 
 

 

Mollesaurus

 
 

 

Athabascasaurus

 
 

 

Brachypterygius

 
 

 

Arthropterygius

 
 

Caypullisaurus

 
 

"Platypterygius" hercynicus

 
 

"Platypterygius" australis (=Longirostria)[7]

 
 

Platypterygius platydactylus (type)

 
 

 

Maiaspondylus

 
 

"Platypterygius" americanus (=Tenuirostria)[7]

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Palaeobiology

P. kiprijanovi - Albian-Cenomanian of Kursk region (Russia)

P. australis has been found with remains of sea turtles and birds (Nanantius) in its guts.[8] Several species attributed to this genus do indeed appear to be apex predators, specialised to hunting proportionally large prey.[9]

Species

  • Platypterygius platydactylus Broilli, 1907 (type)
  • Platypterygius americanus Nace, 1939
  • Platypterygius australis McCoy, 1867
  • Platypterygius hautali von Huene, 1927
  • Platypterygius hercynicus Kuhn, 1946
  • Platypterygius kiprijanoffi Romer, 1968
  • Platypterygius ochevi Arkhangelsky et al., 2008
  • Platypterygius sachicarum Páramo, 1997

Formerly referred species

See also

References

  1. ↑ Arkhangelsky et al., 2008
  2. ↑ Fernández, 2007
  3. ↑ Platypterygius at Fossilworks.org
  4. ↑ Pardo Pérez et al., 2012
  5. ↑ Páramo, 1997
  6. ↑ Druckenmiller & Maxwell, 2010
  7. 1 2 Arkhangelsky, 1998
  8. ↑ Kear et al., 2003
  9. ↑ Fischer et al., 2016
  10. 1 2 Fischer et al., 2014
  11. ↑ Fischer, 2016

Bibliography

  • Arkhangelsky, M.S. (1998). "On the Ichthyosaurian genus Platypterygius". Paleontological Journal. 32 (6): 611–615.
  • Arkhangelsky, M.S.; Averianov, A.O.; Pervushov, E.M.; Ratnikov, V. Yu; Zozyrev, N. Yu. (2008). "On ichthyosaur remains from the Cretaceous of the Voronezh region". Paleontological Journal. 42 (3): 287–291.
  • Druckenmiller, Patrick S.; Maxwell, Erin E. (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.
  • Fernández, M. (2007). "Redescription and phylogenetic position of Caypullisaurus (Ichthyosauria: Ophthalmosauridae)". Journal of Paleontology. 81 (2): 368–375. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2007)81[368:rappoc]2.0.co;2.
  • Fischer, V. (2016). "Taxonomy of Platypterygius campylodon and the diversity of the last ichthyosaurs". PeerJ. 4: e2604. doi:10.7717/peerj.2604. PMC 5075704. PMID 27781178.
  • Fischer, Valentin; Bardet, Nathalie; Benson, Roger B.J.; Arkhangelsky, Maxim S.; Friedman, Matt (2016). "Extinction of fish-shaped marine reptiles associated with reduced evolutionary rates and global environmental volatility". Nature Communications. 7: 10825. Bibcode:2016NatCo...710825F. doi:10.1038/ncomms10825. PMC 4786747. PMID 26953824.
  • Fischer, Valentin; Arkhangelsky, Maxim S.; Naish, Darren; Stenshin, Ilya M.; Uspensky, Gleb N.; Godefroit, Pascal (2014). "Simbirskiasaurus and Pervushovisaurus reassessed: implications for the taxonomy and cranial osteology of Cretaceous platypterygiine ichthyosaurs". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 171 (4): 822–841. doi:10.1111/zoj.12158.
  • Kear, Benjamin P.; Boles, Walter E.; Smith, Elizabeth T. (2003). "Unusual gut contents in a Cretaceous ichthyosaur". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 270: S206–S208. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2003.0050. PMC 1809966.
  • Páramo, M.E. (1997). "Platypterygius sachicarum (Reptilia, Ichthyosauria) nueva especie del Cretácico de Colombia". Revista INGEOMINAS. 6: 1–12.
  • Pardo Pérez, Judith; Frey, Eberhard; Stinnesbeck, Wolfgang; Fernández, Marta S.; Rivas, Luis; Salazar, Christian; Leppe, Marcelo (2012). "An ichthyosaurian forefin from the Lower Cretaceous Zapata Formation of southern Chile: implications for morphological variability within Platypterygius" (PDF). Palaeoclimate, Palaeobiology, Paleoenvironments. 92: 287–294. doi:10.1007/s12549-012-0074-8. Retrieved 30 August 2016.

Further reading

  • Long, J.A., Dinosaurs of Australia and New Zealand, UNSW Press, Australia 1998
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