In Depth
An evaluation of a species of Stenopterygius, S. hauffianus, yielded two things. One, many of the remains of this species could actually be attributed to the Stenopterygius type species, S. quadriscissus. Two, remains that differed from these other fossils were of a new and previously un-described genus of ichthyosaur, hence the re-description and creation of Hauffiopteryx. Like with other ichthyosaurs, Hauffiopteryx was an open water predator of fish and other small marine organisms, though its smaller size compared to other genera may have meant that it could operate more easily in shallow waters and nearer the shoreline.
Hauffiopteryx was named in honour of the Hauff family of Holzmaden for their work with the Posidonia Shale, combined with the Ancient Greek ‘pteryx’ which can mean either ‘wing’ or ‘fin’. The species name H. typicus just means ‘typical’.
Further Reading
– Revision der gattung Stenopterygius Jaekel, 1904 emend. von Huene, 1922 (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria) aus dem unteren Jura Westeuropas. – Palaeodiversity 1:227-271. – M. W. Maisch – 2008. – A revision of the Early Jurassic ichthyosaur Hauffiopteryx (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria), and description of a new species from southwestern Germany. Palaeontologia Electronica, 23(2):a30. – Erin E. Maxwell & Dirley Cort�s – 2020.
