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Thalattoarchon saurophagis
Taxonomy
Thalattoarchon saurophagis was named by Fröbisch et al. (2013). Its type specimen is FMNH PR 3032, a partial skeleton (a partial skeleton including most of the skull and axial skeleton, parts of the pelvic girdle, and parts of the hind fins), and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Favret Canyon ichthyosaur 2008, which is in a Pelsonian marine horizon in the Favret Formation of Nevada. It is the type species of Thalattoarchon.
Synonymy list
| Year | Name and author |
|---|---|
| 2013 | Thalattoarchon saurophagis Fröbisch et al. figs. 1-2 |
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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.
†Thalattoarchon saurophagis Fröbisch et al. 2013
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Diagnosis
| Reference | Diagnosis | |
|---|---|---|
| N. B. Fröbisch et al. 2013 | This predator is a very large ichthyosaur >8.6 m with autapomorphic very large, labiolingually flattened teeth (Fig. 1 E–H) bearing two cutting edges (bicarinate) (Table S3). Additionally, the described taxon can be diagnosed by six unambiguous but equivocal synapomorphies: a postfrontal that does not participate in the upper temporal fenestra, a postorbital that adopts a triradiate shape, an anterior terrace of the upper temporal fenestra that reaches the nasal, a supratemporal that lacks a ventral process, teeth that are laterally compressed, and a tibia that is wider than long. The described taxon differs from Cymbospondylus, the only other known large Middle Triassic ichthyosaur, in having a skull nearly twice as large for the given total body length (SI Length Estimate and Proportions), in the lack of a deep lower temporal embayment, in that the upper tooth row extends back nearly to the anterior margin of the orbit, in that the rib articular facets are not truncated by the anterior margin of the centrum, and in that the posterior dorsals and anterior caudals are bicipital. It differs from the Upper Triassic Himalayasaurus tibetensis, the only other Triassic ichthyosaur with laterally compressed bicarinate cutting teeth, in the conical, evenly tapering tooth crowns that lack longitudinal fluting (Fig. 1 E–H). |
Measurements
No measurements are available
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| Source: o = order | |||||
| Reference: Kiessling 2004 | |||||