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Ichthyosauria ✝

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Ichthyosaurus sp.

Whitby, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, UK

Ichthyosaurus sp.

Vale of the White Horse, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Ichthyosaurus sp.

Vale of the White Horse, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Ichthyosaurus sp.

Whitby, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, UK

Ichthyosaurus sp.

Vale of the White Horse, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Ichthyosaurus sp.

Vale of the White Horse, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Ichthyosaurus sp.

Whitby, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, UK

Ichthyosaurus sp.

Vale of the White Horse, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Source Data

Source	ID	Link
Global Biodiversity Information Facility ID (GBIF)	Not linked to a GBIF record.
PaleoBioDB ID (PBDB)	36543	https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=36543

Rank

unranked clade (PBDB)

Taxonomy (PBDB)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Reptilia : Ichthyosauria

Classification
(PBDB,GBIF)

Rank	Name	Author
-	Eukaryota
-	Opisthokonta	Cavalier-Smith 1987
kingdom	Animalia
-	Triploblastica	Lankester 1877
-	Nephrozoa	Jondelius et al. 2002
-	Deuterostomia	Grobben 1908
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1847
subphylum	Vertebrata	Lamarck 1801
superclass	Gnathostomata	Gegenbauer 1874
-	Osteichthyes
-	Sarcopterygii	Romer 1955
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha
-	Tetrapoda
-	Reptiliomorpha	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Anthracosauria	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Batrachosauria
-	Cotylosauria
-	Amniota	Haeckel 1866
-	Sauropsida	Huxley 1864
class	Reptilia	Laurenti 1768
subclass	Eureptilia
-	Romeriida	Gauthier et al. 1988
-	Diapsida
-	Ichthyosauromorpha	Motani et al. 2015
-	Ichthyosauriformes	Motani et al. 2015
-	Ichthyopterygia
-	Eoichthyosauria	Motani 1999
order	Ichthyosauria

Common Name

ichthyosaur

Opinions (PBDB)

Name	Rank	Opinion	Evidence	Author
Ichthyosauria	order	belongs to Reptilia	stated with evidence	Zittel, 1890
Ichthyosauria	order	belongs to Reptilia	stated without evidence	Hay, 1902
Ichthyosauria	order	belongs to Diapsida	stated with evidence	Osborn, 1903
Ichthyosauria	order	belongs to Diaptosauria	stated with evidence	Osborn, 1904
Ichthyosauria	order	belongs to Enaliosauri	stated with evidence	Jaekel, 1910
Ichthyosauria	order	belongs to Archaeosauria	stated without evidence	Jaekel, 1911
Ichthyosauria	order	subjective synonym of Ichthyopterygia	stated without evidence	Swinton, 1934
Ichthyosauria	order	belongs to Parapsida	stated without evidence	Roxo, 1937
Ichthyosauria	order	belongs to Reptilia	stated with evidence	Kuhn, 1946
Ichthyosauria	order	belongs to Batrachomorphoidea	stated without evidence	Huene, 1954
Ichthyosauria	order	belongs to Diapsida	stated with evidence	Motani et al., 1998
Ichthyosauria	unranked clade	belongs to Eoichthyosauria	stated with evidence	Motani, 1999
Ichthyosauria	order	belongs to Diapsida	stated without evidence	Maisch and Matzke, 2000
Ichthyosauria	unranked clade	belongs to Ichthyopterygia	stated with evidence	Sander, 2000
Ichthyosauria	order	belongs to Reptilia	second hand	Sepkoski, 2002
Ichthyosauria	order	belongs to Eoichthyosauria	stated without evidence	McGowan and Motani, 2003
Ichthyosauria	unranked clade	belongs to Eoichthyosauria	stated with evidence	Moon, 2017

Status (PBDB)

extinct

Taxon Size (PBDB)

300

First Recorded Appearance

252 - 247 Ma
Phanerozoic

Last Recorded Appearance

99.6 - 89.8 Ma
Late/Upper Cretaceous

Environment

marine (based on Ichthyosauria)

Motility

actively mobile (based on Ichthyosauria)

Diet

carnivore (based on Ichthyosauria)

Reproduction

viviparous (based on Ichthyosauria)

Taphonomy

hydroxylapatite (based on Ichthyosauria)

Primary Reference (PBDB)

J. J. Sepkoski, Jr. 2002. A compendium of fossil marine animal genera. Bulletins of American Paleontology 363:1-560

Subtaxa

Name	Status	Fossil Occurrences	Oldest	Youngest
Mixosauria ✝ suborder	listed (PBDB)	1	247 Ma Early/Lower Triassic	247 Ma Early/Lower Triassic
Latipinnatoidea ✝ superfamily	listed (PBDB)
Longipinnatoidea ✝ superfamily	listed (PBDB)
Shastosauroidea ✝ superfamily	listed (PBDB)
Baptanodontidae ✝ family	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)
Grippiidae ✝ family	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	13	251 Ma Early/Lower Triassic	247 Ma Early/Lower Triassic
Omphalosauridae ✝ family	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	10	251 Ma Early/Lower Triassic	242 Ma Middle Triassic
Parvinatatoridae ✝ family	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	1	251 Ma Early/Lower Triassic	251 Ma Early/Lower Triassic
Platypterygiidae ✝ family	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)
Proteosauridae ✝ family	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)
Quasianosteosauridae ✝ family	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	1	251 Ma Early/Lower Triassic	251 Ma Early/Lower Triassic
Thaisauridae ✝ family	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	1	252 Ma Permian	252 Ma Permian
Utatsusauridae ✝ family	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	5	252 Ma Permian	251 Ma Early/Lower Triassic
Apatodonosaurus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	1	164 Ma Middle Jurassic	164 Ma Middle Jurassic
Cetarthrosaurus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	1	105 Ma Early/Lower Cretaceous	105 Ma Early/Lower Cretaceous
Ghuizhouichthyosaurus ✝ genus	doubtful (GBIF) listed (PBDB)
Guanlingichthyosaurus ✝ genus	doubtful (GBIF) listed (PBDB)
Isfjordosaurus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	1	251 Ma Early/Lower Triassic	251 Ma Early/Lower Triassic
Naanchangasaurus ✝ genus	listed (PBDB)
Hueneosauria ✝ unranked clade	listed (PBDB)	109	251 Ma Early/Lower Triassic	209 Ma Late/Upper Triassic
Parvipelvia ✝ unranked clade	listed (PBDB)	353	237 Ma Middle Triassic	99.6 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous

Synonymy List

Year	Name and Author
1835	Ichthyosauria de Blainville
1862	Ichthyosaurus strombecki Meyer
1873	Ichthyosaurus polaris Hulke p. 3
1878	Ichthyosaurus australis Hector
1883	Ichthyosaurus polyptychodon Koken
1883	Rachitrema Sauvage p. 5
1883	Rachitrema pellati Sauvage p. 5 figs. Pl. VI:4, VII:2-5, IX:5-6
1890	Ichthyosauria Zittel p. 449
1890	Rachitrema Zittel p. 722
1898	Ichthyosauria Gadow p. 24
1902	Ichthyosauria Hay p. 461
1903	Ichthyosauria Osborn p. 276
1904	Ichthyosauria Osborn p. 113
1908	Cymbospondylus polaris Merriam p. 149
1910	Ichthyosauri Jaekel p. 334
1910	Pessosaurus Wiman
1910	Pessosaurus polaris Wiman

Year	Name and Author
1911	Ichthyosauri Jaekel p. 140
1937	Ichthyosauria Roxo p. 43
1939	Stenopterygius grandis Cabrera p. 497 figs. 1-3
1939	Sphaerodontes Torre and Cuervo
1946	Ichthysauria Kuhn p. 59
1954	Ichthyosauria Huene p. 14
1971	Pessosaurus Kuhn p. 22
1988	Pessosaurus Carroll
1996	Sphaerodontes caroli Iturralde-Vinent and Norell
1998	Ichthyosauria Motani et al. p. 255
1999	Ichthyosauria Motani fig. 1
2000	Ichthyosauria Maisch and Matzke p. 93
2000	Ichthyosauria Sander
2002	Ichthyosauria Sepkoski, Jr.
2002	Pessosaurus Sepkoski, Jr.
2003	Ichthyosauria McGowan and Motani
2017	Ichthyosauria Moon

References

Sepkoski, Jr. J. J. (2002) A compendium of fossil marine animal genera, Bulletins of American Paleontology 363, 1-560

Hulke I. W. Memorandum on some fossil vertebrate remains collected by the Swedish expeditions to Spitzbergen in 1864 and 1868, Bihang Till Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens Handlingar 1 9, 1-11

Koken E. Die Reptilien der norddeutschen unteren Kreide, Zeitschrift der Deutschen geologischen Gesellschaft 35, 735-827

Sauvage H.-E. Recherches sur les reptiles trouvés dans l'étage rhétien des environs d'Autun [Research on the reptiles found in the Rhaetian stage of the environs of Autun], Annales des Sciences Géologiques 14 3, 1-44

Zittel K. A. v. , Handbuch der Palaeontologie. I. Abteilung Paleozoologie. III. Band. Vertebrata (Pisces, Amphibia, Reptilia, Aves) [Handbook of Paleontology. Division I. Paleozoology. Volume III. Vertebrata (Pisces, Amphibia, Reptilia, Aves)], xii-900

Gadow H. , A Classification of Vertebrata Recent and Extinct, xvii-82

Hay O. P. (1902) , Bibliography and Catalogue of the Fossil Vertebrata of North America. Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey 179, 1-868

Osborn H. F. (1903) On the primary division of the Reptilia into two sub-classes, Synapsida and Diapsida, Science 17 424, 275-276

Merriam J. C. (1908) Triassic Ichthyosauria, Memoirs of the University of California 1 1, 1-155

Jaekel O. (1910) Über das System der Reptilien [On the system of reptiles], Zoologische Anzeiger 35, 324-341

Jaekel O. (1911) , Die Wirbeltiere. Eine Übersicht über die Fossilen und Lebenden Formen [The Vertebrates. An Overview of the Fossil and Living Forms], viii-252

Kuhn O. (1946) Das System der fossilen und rezenten Amphibien und Reptilien [The system of fossil and recent amphibians and reptiles], Bericht der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Bamberg 29, 49-67

Huene F. v. (1954) , Die Saurierwelt und ihre Geschichtlichen Zusammenhänge [The World of Reptiles and the History of Their Interrelationships]. 2nd, revised edition, 1-66

Kuhn O. (1971) , Die Saurier der deutschen Trias [Reptiles of the German Triassic], 1-105

Carroll R. L. (1988) , Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution, 1-698

Iturralde-Vinent M., Norell M. A. (1996) Synopsis of Late Jurassic marine reptiles from Cuba, American Museum Novitates 3164, 1-17

Motani R., Minoura N., et al (1998) Ichthyosaurian relationships illuminated by new primitive skeletons from Japan, Nature 393, 255-257

Motani R. (1999) Phylogeny of the Ichthyopterygia, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 19 3, 473-496

Maisch M. W., Matzke A. T. (2000) The Ichthyosauria, Stuttgarter Beitrage zur Naturkunde, Serie B (Geologie und Palaontologie) 298, 1-159

Sander P. M. (2000) Ichthyosauria: their diversity, distribution and phylogeny, Palaeontologische Zeitschrift 74 1/2, 1-35

Moon B. C. (2017) A new phylogeny of ichthyosaurs (Reptilia: Diapsida), Journal of Systematic Palaeontology doi:10.1080/14772019.2017.1394922

Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!

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