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Stenopterygius aaleniensis
Taxonomy
Stenopterygius aaleniensis was named by Maxwell et al. (2012) [urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:DAEF2283-FDB2-4357-A2BE-0A7739DC3267]. Its type specimen is SMNS 90699, a partial skeleton (an articulated specimen of a mature adult preserving the posterior skull, presacral vertebral column, pectoral girdle and proximal forelimbs), and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Road-cut 700 m SE of the center of Zell am Aichelberg, which is in an Aalenian marine claystone in the Opalinuston Formation of Germany.
Sister species lacking formal opinion data
Synonymy list
| Year | Name and author |
|---|---|
| 2012 | Stenopterygius aaleniensis Maxwell et al. p. 3 figs. 2-4 |
| 2016 | Stenopterygius aaleniensis Ji et al. p. 12 |
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If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.
†Stenopterygius aaleniensis Maxwell et al. 2012
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Diagnosis
| Reference | Diagnosis | |
|---|---|---|
| E. E. Maxwell et al. 2012 | The species is referred to Stenopterygius to the exclusion of other Toarcian ichthyosaurs based on the following combination of shared characters: smaller anterolateral exposure of the parietals and larger anteromedial expansion of the postfrontals than in Hauffiopteryx; larger, more ovate upper temporal fenestrae than Hauffiopteryx and Eurhinosaurus, such that the parietal foramen is situated medial rather than anterior to the upper temporal fenestrae; parietal foramen surrounded almost entirely by the frontals (differs from Suevoleviathan, Temnodontosaurus, shared with Hauffiopteryx); temporal region reduced and oriented posterodorsally (differs from Temnodontosaurus, Suevoleviathan); lower jaw not strongly reduced (differs from Eurhinosaurus); small teeth with unornamented enamel (shared with Eurhinosaurus and Hauffiopteryx); large rectangular anteroposteriorly elongate cora- coids (absent in Suevoleviathan, Temnodontosaurus, and Eurhinosaurus); dorsal process of humerus not plate-like and absence of a digit anterior to the radius (shared with all non-ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur genera); notching of anterior edge of radius (absent in Suevoleviathan and Ophthalmosauridae, but shared with Temnodon- tosaurus, Hauffiopteryx, and some specimens of Eurhinosaurus); ulnare with two strongly developed equal sized distal articular facets (shared only with Hauffiopteryx).
Relative to all other species of Stenopterygius: reduced internasal depression, medial concavity between the frontals absent (present in other Stenopterygius species), upper temporal fenestrae ovate to rounded (generally anteroposteriorly longer and narrower in other Stenopterygius species), temporal region posterolaterally directed (as in Stenopterygius quadriscissus and S. triscissus), maxilla extends as far posteriorly as lacrimal (shared with all species of Stenopterygius), suborbital tooth positions present in adult (absent in S. quadriscissus, S. triscissus from the Posidonia Shale, and S. uniter), posterior edge of the external narial opening dorsally deflected (dorsal deflection minimal to absent in Stenopterygius quadriscissus, S. triscissus, and S. uniter), contact between radius and ulna short (longer in S. quadriscissus, S. triscissus, and S. uniter), anterior edge of radiale unnotched (notched in all other Stenopterygius species), phalanges as dorsoventrally thick as proximodistally long (as in Stenopterygius quadriscissus and S. cayi). |