Cymbospondylus
Name:
Cymbospondylus
(Boat spine).
Phonetic: Sim-boe-spon-dil-lus.
Named By: Joseph Leidy - 1868.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Diapsida,
Ichthyopterygia, Ichthyosauria.
Species: C. piscosus
(type), C.
buchseri, C. duelferi, C. grandis, C. germanicus, C. natans, C.
nevadanus, C. parvus, C. petrinus.
Diet: Piscivore.
Size: Between 6 and 10 meters long.
Known locations: USA, Nevada. Germany.
Time period: Anisian to Norian of the Triassic.
Fossil representation: Many specimens.
Not
only was Cymbospondylus one of earliest
ichthyosaurs
named, it was
also one of the first to swim in the Triassic oceans. Cymbospondylus
is an example of the primitive ichthyosaurs that were yet to evolve
dorsal fins and developed tail flukes which left it with a long body,
half of
which was tail. The jaws of Cymbospondylus were
filled with teeth
that were actually very small when compared to some other early
ichthyosaurs, something that suggests that despite its large size
Cymbospondylus would have relied more upon smaller
and softer prey like
fish and cephalopods such as squid.
There
has been some contention as to whether Cymbospondylus
is an ichthyosaur
or not because of the lack of a dorsal fin and a tail fluke. However
this is not all that different to other early ichthyosaurs such as
Utatsusaurus,
the earliest known ichthyosaur which does not have any
of these features either. Cymbospondylus also
bears a resemblance to
the later Shastasaurus
that lived towards the end of the Triassic, a
particularly large ichthyosaur that had toothless jaws.
Further reading
- Notice of some reptilian remains from Nevada. - Proceedings of the
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 109:177-178 - J. Leidy -
1868.
- The large ichthyosaur Cymbospondylus buchseri,
sp. nov. from the
Middle Triassic of Monte San Giorgio (Switzerland), with a survey of
the genus in Europe - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 9(2):163-173 -
P. M. Sander - 1989.
- A new species of Cymbospondylus (Diapsida,
Ichthyosauria) from the
Middle Triassic of Nevada and a re-evaluation of the skull osteology of
the genus. - Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 147:515-538. -
N. Fr�bisch, P. Sander & O. Rieppel - 2006.
- A new cymbospondylid ichthyosaur (Ichthyosauria) from the Middle
Triassic (Anisian) of the Augusta Mountains, Nevada, USA. - Journal of
Systematic Palaeontology. Online edition (14): 1167–1191. - Nicole
Klein, Lars Schmitz, Tanja Wintrich & P. Martin Sander - 2020
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