Well this was a work of more than 2 months that just ended up taking longer than necessary due to procrastination, I have seen little or almost no work done on skeletal reconstructions of Temnodontosaurus trigonodon so I decided to work on a modern one with the new flippers.
As well finishing this skeleton, it was important to reconstruct it on the flesh, a peculiar form even among ichthyosaurs with its giant pairs of wing-shaped flippers, and a gigantic semi-lunar tail that would have allowed it to swim quickly.
Worth to mention too, I finally considered starting a blog to collect and display my entries while I continue deciding which other apps and sites can offer better hosting, you can fin more imput regarding minor details as well some things regarding Temnodontosaurus gigantism.
Locked in a fight, two of the most formidable marine predators of the Toarcian tear and ram each other until one of them surrender or perish
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…
“It contains features that have not been observed in any living or extinct animal,” said Dr Dean Lomax to IFLScience.
An extraordinary fossil has blown the socks of palaeontologists as it was found to contain the soft tissues of a Temnodontosaurus ichthyosaur, marking the first time we’ve ever found soft tissue remains of a giant ichthyosaur and introducing new-to-science features that reveal how they hunted. The discovery is going to revolutionize the way we look at ichthyosaurs, so said study co-author and palaeontologist Dr Dean Lomax, who knows a thing or two about these extinct marine reptiles.
“Honestly, when I first saw this specimen in person, laid out on the kitchen table, no less, at Georg's house (the collector), I was stunned into silence,” Lomax told IFLScience. “That says a lot about me (and this fossil), considering that I usually never shut up talking about fossils. But the extremely remarkable details, not only of the skin, but the striped pattern, the incredible winglike shape and those 'spike-like' structures – that we come to term chondroderms – reveal features that no other human had seen before.”
“The three of us stared at this fossil in awe. One of those goosebump-type moments where for that split second you just know that this fossil is going to revolutionise the way we look at and reconstruct these creatures. Remarkable for a group of ancient animals that we've known for over two centuries. It is the sort of discovery that 10-year-old 'Dino Dean' could have only ever dreamed of.”
The fossil is that of a meter-long front flipper of the large Jurassic ichthyosaur Temnodontosaurus that lived 183 million years ago. The flipper has a serrated trailing edge that’s reinforced by cartilaginous features scientists had never seen before, and have since named chondroderms. Lomax told IFLScience these chondroderms have “never been observed in any living or extinct animal,” and they reveal what kind of hunter this ichthyosaur was.
It's thought this set-up provided hydroacoustic benefits, effectively enabling “silent swimming” that meant predatory ichthyosaurs could ambush their prey. We already know that ichthyosaurs had big old dinner plates for eyes, and it seems that coupled with these chondroderms, they must have been the ultimate stealth hunters in the dimly lit pelagic environment.
[Article continues. Click link above for full story.]
Juvenile Stenopterygius being stalked by a Temnodontosaurus. @knuppitalism-with-ue’s comment on the fins being similar to owl feathers in that they aided in stealth was my main inspiration for this drawing
