Sveltonectes

Sveltonectes
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 126 Ma
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Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: †Ichthyosauria
Family: †Ophthalmosauridae
Subfamily: †Platypterygiinae
Genus: †Sveltonectes
Fischer et al., 2011
Species: †S. insolitus
Binomial name
Sveltonectes insolitus
Fischer et al., 2011

Sveltonectes is an extinct genus of platypterygiine ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur known from Ul’yanovsk region, western Russia.[1][2]

Description

Sveltonectes is known from the holotype IRSNB R269, an almost complete three-dimensionally preserved skeleton including partial skull. It was collected in unnamed locality, in Ul’yanovsk, dating to the late Barremian stage of the Early Cretaceous, about 126 million years ago. Another thunnosaur described from the same locality, by Bogolubow (1909), is "Ichthyosaurus" steleodon. It is a nomen dubium that is twice the size and more robust than Sveltonectes.[1]

Like some other ophthalmosaurids, Sveltonectes has a projection on the nasal bone of the skull into the naris, a prefrontal forming part of the margin of the naris and a frontal forming part of the margin of the supratemporal fenestra. Sveltonectes is unique in that it has small, sharp teeth and numerous other peculiar features such as a very primitive prootic. The distinctive shape of these teeth suggest that it had a different feeding habit than other cretaceous ophthalmosaurids. Within Ophthalmosauridae, Sveltonectes is most closely related to Aegirosaurus.[1]

Etymology

Sveltonectes was named by Valentin Fischer, Edwige Masure, Maxim S. Arkhangelsky and Pascal Godefroit in 2011 and the type species is Sveltonectes insolitus. The generic name is derived from sveltos, Greek for "agile", and nektes, Greek for "swimmer", and refers to its small size, streamlined skull and powerful girdle musculature. The specific name is derived from insolitus, Latin for "unusual", in reference to the numerous unusual features of this ichthyosaur, as well as its unusual tooth morphology.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Fischer, V.; Masure, E.; Arkhangelsky, M.S.; Godefroit, P. (2011). "A new Barremian (Early Cretaceous) ichthyosaur from western Russia". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 31 (5): 1010–1025. doi:10.1080/02724634.2011.595464.
  2. ↑ Valentin Fischer, Michael W. Maisch, Darren Naish, Ralf Kosma, Jeff Liston, Ulrich Joger, Fritz J. Krüger, Judith Pardo Pérez, Jessica Tainsh and Robert M. Appleby (2012). "New Ophthalmosaurid Ichthyosaurs from the European Lower Cretaceous Demonstrate Extensive Ichthyosaur Survival across the Jurassic–Cretaceous Boundary". PLoS ONE. 7 (1): e29234. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0029234. PMC 3250416Freely accessible. PMID 22235274.
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