Malawania

Malawania is an extinct genus of basal thunnosaur ichthyosaur known from the middle Early Cretaceous (Hauterivian or Barremian stage) of Iraq. Malawania was first named by Valentin Fischer, Robert M. Appleby, Darren Naish, Jeff Liston, Riding, J. B., Brindley, S. and Pascal Godefroit in 2013 and the type species is Malawania anachronus.[1] It is unusual as it is much more primitive than other Cretaceous Ichthyosaurs, being most closely related to Icthyosaurus itself from the Late Triasic and Early Jurassic, over 70 million years earlier.

Malawania
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 132–125 Ma
Restoration
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: †Ichthyosauria
Family: †Ichthyosauridae
Genus: †Malawania
Fischer et al., 2013
Type species
†Malawania anachronus
Fischer et al., 2013

Discovery

The holotype and only known specimen was discovered in 1952 by British petroleum geologists D. M. Morton, F. R. S. Henson, R. J. Wetzel and L. C. F. Damesin while working in Chia Gara, Armadia in Iraqi Kurdistan. The slab was being used to dam a small river and was part of a mule track. It was then transported back to the UK and donated to the Natural History Museum in 1959. Robert M. Appleby would study the specimen for many years until his death in 2004, but never published a paper, one manuscript submitted to Paleontology in 1979 was rejected due to the uncertain provenance of the specimen.[2]

Taxonomy

The name is derived from "Kurdish ‘Malawan’: swimmer and Latinized Greek noun in apposition ‘anachronus’ meaning ‘out of time’."[1]

Phylogeny

Below is a cladogram modified from Fischer et. al., 2013.[1]

 
 

Mikadocephalus gracilirostris

 
 Parvipelvia 
 

Hudsonelpidia brevirostris

 
 
 

Macgowania janiceps

 
 Neoichthyosauria 
 
 

Temnodontosaurus

 
 
 

Leptonectes tenuirostris

 
 
 

Eurhinosaurus longirostris

 
 

Excalibosaurus costini

 
 
 
 
 
 

Suevoleviathan disinteger

 
 
 

Hauffiopteryx typicus

 
Thunnosauria 
 Ichthyosauridae 
 

Ichthyosaurus communis

 
 

Malawania anachronus

 
 
 Baracromia 
 

Stenopterygius quadriscissus

 
 
 

Chacaicosaurus cayi

 
 Ophthalmosauridae 
 

Arthropterygius chrisorum

 
 
 Ophthalmosaurinae 
 

Mollesaurus periallus

 
 
 

Ophthalmosaurus icenicus (type species)

 
 
 

Baptanodon natans ("O." natans)

 
 

Acamptonectes densus

 
 
 
 
 Platypterygiinae 
 
 

Brachypterygius extremus

 
 
 

Maiaspondylus lindoei

 
 
 

Aegirosaurus leptospondylus

 
 

Sveltonectes insolitus

 
 
 
 
 
 

"Platypterygius" hercynicus

 
 
 

Caypullisaurus bonapartei

 
 
 

Athabascasaurus bitumineus

 
 

"Platypterygius" australis

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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See also

References
  1. Fischer, V.; Appleby, R. M.; Naish, D.; Liston, J.; Riding, J. B.; Brindley, S.; Godefroit, P. (2013). "A basal thunnosaurian from Iraq reveals disparate phylogenetic origins for Cretaceous ichthyosaurs". Biology Letters. 9 (4): 20130021. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2013.0021. PMC 3730615. PMID 23676653.
  2. Naish, Darren. "Malawania from Iraq and the Cretaceous Ichthyosaur Revolution (part II)". Tetrapod Zoology. Scientific American. Retrieved 2020-07-27.


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