In Depth
First discovered in 2009, the holotype specimen of Cryopterygius was found quite complete, only the posterior portion of the tail is missing. The main length of Cryopterygius from the tip of the snout to the posterior regions of the body is just over four and a half meters long, Depending upon how long the tail was, the total length of Cryopterygius would be expected to be somewhere between five and five and a half meters long.
Cryopterygius has been identified as an ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur. This means that Cryopterygius is related to the type genus of the Ophthalmosauridae Ophthalmosaurus as well as other genera such as Platypterygius, Brachypterygius, Mollesaurus and Caypullisaurus among many others.
Further Reading
- Two new ophthalmosaurids (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria) from the Agardhfjellet Formation (Upper Jurassic: Volgian/Tithonian), Svalbard, Norway - Norwegian Journal of Geology 92 (2-3): 311–339 - Patrick S. Druckenmiller, J�rn H. Hurum, Espen M. Knutsen & Hans Arne Nakrem - 2012.
