Platypterygius
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Skull of P. sachicarum in the Paleontological Museum in Villa de Leyva, Colombia | |
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Genus: | †Platypterygius von Huene 1922
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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
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 [citation needed]. This unusual characteristic gives the genus its name, meaning 'flat wing.' Furthermore, some of the wrist bones have disappeared entirely.[citation needed] CAT scans on a juvenile specimen strongly suggest that Platypterygius was deaf.[citation needed]
Discovery and species
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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
Recognized 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 assigned species
- Pervushovisaurus bannovkensis Arkhangelsky, 1998[3]
- Pervushovisaurus campylodon Carter, 1846[4]
- Simbirskiasaurus birjukovi Otschev and Efimov, 1985[3]
- Plutoniosaurus bedengensis Efimov, 1997
- Ichthyosaurus steleodon Bogolobov, 1909
Classification
The cladogram below follows the topology from a 2010 analysis by Patrick S. Druckenmiller and Erin E. Maxwell.[5]
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Palaeobiology
P. australis has been found with remains of sea turtles and birds (Nanantius) in its guts.[7] Several species attributed to this genus do indeed appear to be apex predators, specialised to hunting proportionally large prey.[8]
Distribution
Fossils of Platypterygius are known from:[9]
- Río Belgrano Formation, Argentina[10]
- Allaru, Toolebuc and Wallumbilla Formations, Australia[10]
- Loon River Formation, Northwest Territories and Ashville Formation, Saskatchewan, Canada[10]
- Zapata Formation, Chile[11]
- Paja Formation, Colombia[12]
- Marnes Bleues and La Penthiève Beds Formations, France
- Germany
- Waiokumurau Valley, New Zealand
- Melovatka Formation, Russia
- La Presta, Switzerland
- Gault, Lower Chalk and West Melbury Marly Chalk Formations, England
- Kiowa Shale, Kansas, Grayson Marl, Texas, Mowry Shale and Belle Fourche Formation, Wyoming, United States[10]
- Apón Formation, Venezuela
See also
References
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. doi:10.1134/S0031030108030106.
- 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.[permanent dead link]
- 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.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) - 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 (Suppl 2): S206–S208. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2003.0050. PMC 1809966. PMID 14667384.
- Páramo Fonseca, María Eurídice (2018). "Restos apendiculares de un ictiosaurio oftalmosáurido del Barremiano inferior de Villa de Leiva, Colombia". Boletín de Geología. 40: 15–30. doi:10.18273/revbol.v40n1-2018001.
- 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". Palaeoclimate, Palaeobiology, Paleoenvironments. 92 (2): 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
External links
- Ichthyosaurs
- Early Cretaceous ichthyosaurs
- Late Cretaceous ichthyosaurs
- Hauterivian genus first appearances
- Barremian life
- Aptian life
- Albian life
- Cenomanian genus extinctions
- Cretaceous reptiles of Asia
- Cretaceous Russia
- Fossils of Russia
- Cretaceous reptiles of Australia
- Fossils of Australia
- Fossils of New Zealand
- Cretaceous reptiles of Europe
- Cretaceous France
- Fossils of France
- Cretaceous Germany
- Fossils of Germany
- Mesozoic Switzerland
- Fossils of Switzerland
- Cretaceous United Kingdom
- Fossils of England
- Cretaceous reptiles of North America
- Cretaceous Canada
- Fossils of Canada
- Cretaceous United States
- Fossils of the United States
- Early Cretaceous reptiles of South America
- Cretaceous Argentina
- Fossils of Argentina
- Cretaceous Chile
- Fossils of Chile
- Cretaceous Colombia
- Fossils of Colombia
- Altiplano Cundiboyacense
- Paja Formation
- Cretaceous Venezuela
- Fossils of Venezuela
- Fossil taxa described in 1922
- Taxa named by Friedrich von Huene
- Ophthalmosauridae