Name:
Leptonectes
(Delicate swimmer).
Phonetic: Lep-toe-nek-teez.
Named By: Von Huene - 1922.
Synonyms: Ichthyosaurus tenuirostris,
Leptopterygius tenuirostris.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Ichthyosauria, Leptopterygiidae.
Species: L. tenuirostris (type),
L. moorei, L. solei.
Diet: Piscivore.
Size: Details uncertain.
Known locations: Western Europe including,
Belgium, England, Germany, Spain and Switzerland.
Time period: Rhaetian of the Triassic through to
Pliensbachian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Several specimens.
Leptonectes
is the type genus of Leptopterygiidae group of ichthyosaurs
that had
specialised upper jaws that protruded beyond the end of the lower jaw.
This group of ichthyosaurs are sometimes envisioned using these snouts
to stir up sediment on the sea floor to find buried prey, however
because their jaws resemble those of swordfish it is thought that they
may have used them like swordfish to kill prey. This would involve
using their long rostrum to swipe at fish in front of them and causing
injuries to their flanks so that they could not swim away, thus
significantly increasing the chance of prey capture.
Two
other ichthyosaurs with similar elongated snouts to Leptonectes
are
Eurhinosaurus
and Excalibosaurus.
Further reading
- Additional notices on the fossil genera Ichthyosaurus and
plesiosaurus. - Transactions of the Geological Society of London,
Series 2 1:103-123. - W. D. Conybeare - 1822.
- A new Pliensbachian Ichthyosaur from Dorset, England. - Palaeontology
42(5):761-768. - C. McGowan & A. C. Milner - 1999.
- Evidence for the longest stratigraphic range of a post-Triassic
Ichthyosaur: a Leptonectes tenuirostris from the
Pliensbachian (Lower
Jurassic) of Switzerland. - Geobios 39: 491-505. - M.W. Maisch
& R. G. Reisdorf - 2006.
- First report of Leptonectes (Ichthyosauria:
Leptonectidae) from the
Lower Jurassic (Pliensbachian) of Asturias, northern Spain. -
Palaeontologia Electronica. 21 (2): Article number 21.2.29A. - Marta S.
Fern�ndez, Laura Pi�uela & Jos� Carlos Garc�a-Ramos - 2018.