Eretmorhipis

Name: Eretmorhipis ‭(‬oar fan‭)‬.
Phonetic: E-ret-mor-hip-iss.
Named By: Xiao-hong Chen,‭ ‬Ryosuke Motani‭ ‬,‭ ‬Long Cheng,‭ ‬Da-yong Jiang‭ & ‬Olivier Rieppel‭ ‬-‭ ‬2015.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Hupehsuchia,‭ ‬Hupehsuchidae.
Species: E.‭ ‬carrolldongi‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Piscivore/Carnivore.
Size: Preserved length of body and tail about‭ ‬85-86‭ ‬centimetres long,‭ ‬but this does not include the skull and neck.
Known locations: China,‭ ‬Hubei Province‭ ‬-‭ ‬Jialingjiang Formation.
Time period: Early Triassic.
Fossil representation: Almost complete post cranial skeleton.

       Eretmorhipis is a genus of hupehsuchian reptile that lived‭ ‬in‭ ‬waters that once submerged China during the early Triassic.‭ ‬Members of the Hupehsuchidae‭ (‬relatives of Hupehsuchus‭) ‬were reptiles that hunted in the sea,‭ ‬looking a lot like primitive ichthyosaurs,‭ ‬though not‭ ‬directly related to them.‭ ‬Eretmorhipis stands out from most other hupehsuchian in the fact that the feet still have clearly defined toes whereas in most other genera they are formed into rudimentary flippers.‭ ‬Hupehsuchians are also noted for having large osteoderm plates that grew along the length of the spine,‭ ‬and in Eretmorhipis they are notably larger than other known genera,‭ ‬covering the equivalent of as much as four vertebrae each.

Further reading
-‭ ‬A New Specimen of Carroll’s Mystery Hupehsuchian from the Lower Triassic of China.‭ ‬-‭ ‬PLoS ONE‭ ‬10‭ (‬5‭)‬.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Xiao-hong Chen,‭ ‬Ryosuke Motani‭ ‬,‭ ‬Long Cheng,‭ ‬Da-yong Jiang‭ & ‬Olivier Rieppel‭ ‬-‭ ‬2015.



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