Ichthyosauria Temporal range: Lower Triassic – Upper Cretaceous | |
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Diversity of ichthyosaurs | |
Scientific classification | |
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Superorder: | †Ichthyopterygia |
Order: | †Ichthyosauria Blainville, 1835 |
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Triassic forms: Jurassic & Cretaceous forms |
Ichthyosaurs are an extinct order of marine reptiles from the Mesozoic era.
By the Upper Triassic they are similar in shape to dolphins and to fast predatory fish like tuna (convergent evolution). They are found in marine strata from the earliest Triassic to the Cretaceous, though the early proto-ichthyosaurs are sometimes put in the broader category of Ichthyopterygia. After transitional Triassic types like Mixosaurus and Cymbospondylus, they have essentially the same body shape.Californosaurus was one of the first to have the typical dolphin-like body shape.
Although isolated ichthyosaur vertebrae are quite common, the first fossil which showed the ichthyosaur form was found by Mary Anning (1799–1847) and her brother Joseph. Mary Anning was an early British fossil collector, dealer and paleontologist. Many of her finds may be seen today at the Natural History Museum, London.
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