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Cymbospondylus ✝

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Description

Cymbospondylus (A Greek word meaning "Boat Spine") was a basal early ichthyosaur that lived between the middle and later years of the Triassic period (240-210 million years ago). Previously, the genus was classified as a shastasaurid, however, more recent work finds it to be more basal.

From Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymbospondylus, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Source Data

Source	ID	Link
Global Biodiversity Information Facility ID (GBIF)	4818000	https://www.gbif.org/species/4818000
PaleoBioDB ID (PBDB)	36550	https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=36550

Rank

genus

Taxonomy (GBIF)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Reptilia : Shastasauridae : Cymbospondylus

Taxonomy (PBDB)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Reptilia : Ichthyosauria : Cymbospondylidae : Cymbospondylus

Taxonomic Status (GBIF)

accepted

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
-	Ichthyosauria
-	Hueneosauria	Maisch and Matzke 2000
suborder	Longipinnati	Huene 1948
family	Cymbospondylidae	von Huene 1948
genus	Cymbospondylus	Leidy 1868

Scientific Name

Cymbospondylus Leidy, 1868

Name Published In

Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., 1868

Opinions (PBDB)

Name	Rank	Opinion	Evidence	Author
Cymbospondylus	genus	belongs to Baptanodontidae	stated without evidence	Hay, 1902
Cymbospondylus	genus	belongs to Shastasaurinae	stated without evidence	Merriam, 1908
Cymbospondylus	genus	belongs to Cymbospondylidae	stated with evidence	Kuhn, 1971
Cymbospondylus	genus	belongs to Shastasauridae	implied	Carroll, 1988
Cymbospondylus	genus	belongs to Shastasauridae	stated without evidence	Massare and Callaway, 1994
Cymbospondylus	genus	belongs to Ichthyosauria	stated with evidence	Motani, 1999
Cymbospondylus	genus	belongs to Cymbospondylidae	stated with evidence	Maisch and Matzke, 2000
Cymbospondylus	genus	belongs to Shastasauridae	stated with evidence	Sander, 2000
Cymbospondylus	genus	belongs to Ichthyosauria	second hand	Sepkoski, 2002
Cymbospondylus	genus	belongs to Cymbospondylidae	stated without evidence	McGowan and Motani, 2003
Cymbospondylus	genus	belongs to Cymbospondylidae	stated with evidence	Maisch, 2010

Status (PBDB)

extinct

Taxon Size (PBDB)

First Recorded Appearance

251 - 247 Ma
Early/Lower Triassic

Last Recorded Appearance

242 - 237 Ma
Middle Triassic

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

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymbospondylus

Fossil Distribution

Subtaxa

Name	Status	Common Name(s)	Fossil Occurrences	Oldest	Youngest
Chonespondylus grandis ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		1	252 Ma Permian	252 Ma Permian
Cymbospondylus buchseri ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		1	247 Ma Early/Lower Triassic	247 Ma Early/Lower Triassic
Cymbospondylus germanicus ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)
Cymbospondylus natans species	accepted (GBIF)	No associated record in PBDB
Cymbospondylus nevadanus ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		1	247 Ma Early/Lower Triassic	247 Ma Early/Lower Triassic
Cymbospondylus nichollsi ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		1	247 Ma Early/Lower Triassic	247 Ma Early/Lower Triassic
Cymbospondylus parvus ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)
Cymbospondylus petrinus ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		3	247 Ma Early/Lower Triassic	247 Ma Early/Lower Triassic
Cymbospondylus piscosus ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		1	247 Ma Early/Lower Triassic	247 Ma Early/Lower Triassic

Synonymy List

Year	Name and Author
1868	Chonespondylus Leidy
1868	Cymbospondylus Leidy
1902	Chonespondylus Hay p. 463
1902	Cymbospondylus Hay p. 463
1908	Cymbospondylus Merriam p. 88
1908	Cymbospondylus natans Merriam p. 150 figs. Plate 13, Figs. 1a & 1b
1971	Cymbospondylus Kuhn p. 22
1988	Cymbospondylus Carroll
1994	Cymbospondylus Massare and Callaway p. 140

Year	Name and Author
1999	Cymbospondylus Motani fig. 1
2000	Cymbospondylus Maisch and Matzke pp. 64, 96
2000	Cymbospondylus Sander
2002	Chonespondylus Sepkoski, Jr.
2002	Cymbospondylus Sepkoski, Jr.
2003	Cymbospondylus McGowan and Motani
2006	Cymbospondylus Maisch and Matzke p. 598
2010	Cymbospondylus Maisch

References

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

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

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

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

Massare J. A., Callaway J. M. (1994) Cymbospondylus (Ichthyosauria: Shastasauridae) from the Lower Triassic Thaynes Formation of southeastern Idaho, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 14 1, 139-141

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

Maisch M. W., Matzke A. T. (2006) The braincase of Phantomosaurus neubigi (Sander, 1997), an unusual ichthyosaur from the Middle Triassic of Germany, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26 3, 598-607

Maisch M. W. (2010) Phylogeny, systematics, and origin of the Ichthyosauria - the state of the art, Palaeodiversity 3, 151-214

Nomenclator Zoologicus. A list of the names of genera and subgenera in zoology from the tenth edition of Linnaeus, 1758 to the end of 2004. Digitised by uBio from vols. 1-9 of Neave (ed.), 1939-1996 plus supplementary digital-only volume. http://ubio.org/NomenclatorZoologicus (as at 2006). - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., 1868 - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

SN2000: Brands, S. J. (compiler) 1989-2005. Systema Naturae 2000. Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2006 version). Available online at http://sn2000.taxonomy.nl/. - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Sepkoski, J. J., Jr. (2002). A compendium of fossil marine animal genera. Bulletins of American Paleontology. 363, 1-560. - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

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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