Nannopterygius
Name:
Nannopterygius
(Small wing).
Phonetic: Nan-nop-teh-ree-ge-us.
Named By: Friedrich von Huene - 1922.
Synonyms: Enthekiodon, Ichthyosaurus enthekiodon, Paraophthalmosaurus, Yasykovia.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Ichthyosauria, Ophthalmosauria, Ophthalmosauridae.
Species: N. enthekiodon
(type), N. borealis, N. saveljeviensis, N. yasykovi.
Diet: Piscivore.
Size: About 2.5 meters long.
Known locations: England - Kimmeridge Clay
Formation. Ichthyosaur remains from Germany might also represent
Nannopterygius.
Time period: Callovian/Tithonian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Single specimen.
Nannopterygius
was first described in 1871 by John Hulke, but as a species of
Ichthyosaurus,
I. enthekiodon. However, the Ichthyosaurus
genus
was once treated as a wastebasket taxon, and many former species of
Ichthyosaurus have now been re-assigned as distinct
genera. This is
what happened later in the early twentieth century when another
palaeontologists Friedrich von Huene renamed Ichthyosaurus
enthekiodon
as Nannopterygius. Nannopterygius
is today considered to be
identified as an ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur
not only indicating that
Nannopterygius was a relative to the famous
Ophthalmosaurus,
but that
Nannopterygius was probably a deep diving
ichthyosaur that would swim
down into the oceanic depths where there was very little light to hunt
deep sea organisms such as squid.
The
name Nannopterygius actually means small wing,
but in this respect it
is the superficial similarity of the fore limb pectoral flipper to a
wing that is the focus of this. Despite possible confusion from
this, the pectoral fins actually do act in a similar manner to the
wings of a plane by generating lift. You see the drawback of being
propelled by being pushed from the rear such as tail is that unless
you happen to be generating incredible amounts of thrust, you
inevitably end up pitching down from the effects of gravity. Using
the pectoral fins however, and ichthyosaurs, or fish, or even a
submarine for that matter can control the pitch of the body so that
upwards, downwards or even just level swimming can be maintained.
Further reading
- Note on an Ichthyosaurus (I.
enthekiodon) from Kimmeridge Bay,
Dorset. - Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 27,
440–441. - John Hulke - 1871.
- Die Ichthyosaurier des Lias und ihre Zusammenh�nge. - Verlag von
Gebr�der Borntraeger, Berlin, 114 pp 22 pls. -
Friedrich von Huene 1922.
- The Ichthyosauria. Stuttgarter Beitr�ge zur Naturkunde, Serie
B. - Geologie und Pal�ontologie), 298, 1–159. - M.
W. Maisch & A. T. Matzke - 2000.
- Revision of Nannopterygius (Ichthyosauria:
Ophthalmosauridae):
reappraisal of the 'inaccessible' holotype resolves a taxonomic tangle
and reveals an obscure ophthalmosaurid lineage with a wide distribution
-. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. - Nikolay G. Zverkov
& Megan L. Jacobs - 2020.
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