Baptanodon

Baptanodon 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.

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

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]

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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.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  3. 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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