#icthyosaurs

[mesozoic-menagerie]

A pair of hunting Excalibosaurus costini.

Doing their thing in a shallow coastal area having chased their prey there for easier pickings. I believe dolphins have been recorded doing this, so why not marine reptiles?

[makairodonx]

Temnodontosaurus trigonodon, The unusually stout-headed giant predatory Temnodontosaurus species from the Early Jurassic of England, which may belong to a new genus and species of icthyosaur due to how morphology different it is from the other Temnodontosaurus species which usually have longer snouts, clamps its toothy jaws upon an unsuspecting Icthyosaurus from below…

[gwydpolls]

Time Travel Question 32: Pre-history. I forget what number....3? 4?

If you could travel through time, but only to see something for Research or for Fun, not to change anything, what would you pick? (Yes, you may have a babel fish.)

Was Nanotyrannus a juvenile T-rex or its own species?

Witness the first Lystrosaurus emerge after the Permian Extinction.

What caused the Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum?

Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum

See the miniature dinosaurs of Hateg Island.

Was Arthropluera a carnivore, herbivore, or omnivore?

Watch the first tetrapod emerge from the water.

Find out if Argentinosaurus truly was the biggest dinosaur

See the giant 40-foot tall fungi Prototaxites.

What was Spinosaurus's final form?

What caused the mass strandings of 50+ foot Icthyosaurs at the Luning Formation?

Why did snakes lose their legs? Fossorial or Marine reasons? Some secret thing?

Voting ended onNov 21, 2023

In honor of @kraetac.

Please add new suggestions below if you have them for future consideration. All cultures and time periods welcome.

[antiqueanimals]

Fossil Amphibians and Reptiles (Second Edition). Written by W.E. Swinton. Illustrated by Maurice Wilson. 1958.

[the-arthropod-queen]

I love how every time a reptile goes in water they do this

[twofacedgods]

Sea Dragons: A Study on Skulls

Three days and three drawings of the Mesozoic sea dragons, the aquatic counterparts to dinosaurs when they still roamed the Earth. These reptiles reigned over the vast ocean of Panthalassa when Pangaea still stood, and later the Tethys and the Pacific as new oceans opened and continents drifted apart, setting course for their current positions. 

The first, Temnodontosaurus platydon, is an ichthyosaur: a dolphin–like apex predator in the Jurassic that could reach some 12m in length. This genus fed on plesiosaurs and other ichthyosaurs, exhibiting highly derived characteristics such as fish–like forms, groove–grown occluding teeth, and homocercal upright tails. This particular species has the largest eyes found in the animal kingdom yet (extant or extinct), with the largest measuring some 26cm in diameter, and it receives several mentions in Attenborough and the Sea Dragon (a brilliant documentary, which I wholeheartedly recommend). This specimen currently sits in the Natural History Museum in London, found along the Jurassic Coast by Mary and Joseph Anning.

The second, Tylosaurus kansasensis, is a mosasaur: a snake–like apex predator of the Cretaceous which featured famously in Jurassic World, though its proportions were somewhat exaggerated. It is a common misconception that mosasaurs were the largest of the Mesozoic marine reptiles; indeed, that award goes to the ichthyosaurs (which could reach c.23m in length compared to the mosasaur’s humble 17m). However, mosasaurs were felled in their prime during the K-Pg mass extinction—the same that ended the dinosaurs—and so it could be said that given the opportunity, their fictional proportions might have been achieved with more time. The specimen is the holotype for the species, FHSM VP-2295, and belongs to a mosasaur that would have been 5.5m in length (approx. a large great white). It exhibits several bite marks and scavenging from sharks—see the Oceans of Kansas for more information (there’s a wealth of resources for all similar such things). 

The last, Trinacromerum bentonianum, is a short–necked plesiosaur: a predator with some passing resemblance to a four–flippered penguin. The clade encompasses a diversity of morphologies, including the long–necked plesiosauromorphs and the short–necked pliosauromorphs, though there are long–necked members among the short–necked pliosaurs and short–necked members among the long–necked plesiosauromorphs. This genus is one such confusing example, belonging to the short–necked plesiosauromorphs which would have been c.3m long and fed on small fish (which we can tell from its narrow, pointy pierce-guild teeth). The specimen is KUVP 5070, once again on the Oceans of Kansas website.

[olde-scratch]

me wanting to learn more about prehistoric animals cause theyre some of the coolest things ever vs my short attention span

[makairodonx]

Keiko swims with a pod of Ichthyotitan severnensis, a truly gigantic shastasaurid icthyosaur which lived about 205-202 million years ago at the end of the Triassic of what is now southern England and at 25 meters long is possibly the single largest Mesozoic marine reptile ever discovered, in her mermaid form.