Thalattoarchon, a new macropredatory ichthyosaur

Adam Khor

Seems like this will be the year of the sea monsters. First Pannoniasaurus (ok, last year and actually a river monster, but whatever), then Tyrannoneustes, and now the famous ichthyosaur from Nevada which had already been announced before but now has a cool name and a cool pic:

http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/07/16396768-244-million-years-ago-monsters-ruled-the-seas-where-nevada-now-sits?lite



Thalattoarchon means "ruler of the seas" and its species name means "reptile-eater". It is the first ichthyosaur obviously adapted to feed on large game, which would mean other sea reptiles back then. And don´t worry, it has already been dubbed T-Rex of the Triassic sea by Nat Geo magazine

Rubecula

That is a brilliant find Adam I am excited by this one as I didn't have a clue about it.

EDIT: I wonder if it was related to Shonisaurus?

Galvasean

Saurophaganax seeks court injunction for naming rights...

Adam Khor

Rubecula wrote: »

That is a brilliant find Adam I am excited by this one as I didn't have a clue about it.

EDIT: I wonder if it was related to Shonisaurus?

If I'm not mistaken it was more closely related to Cymbospondylus. I actually remember reading that it was probably a Cymbo species. Guess they changed their mind.

Galvasean

Based on the depiction it looks a good bit more robust and less 'serpentine' than Cymbospondylus.

Adam Khor

Galvasean wrote: »

Based on the depiction it looks a good bit more robust and less 'serpentine' than Cymbospondylus.

Sure, but that is only to be expected considering the kind of prey it was taking...

Also, remember how mosasaurs turned out to be less serpentine and more robust/shark-like than we thought? Maybe they found the same was true about early ichthyosaurs?

Ziphius

Very cool find. Saw it in the newspaper yesterday.

Rubecula wrote: »

EDIT: I wonder if it was related to Shonisaurus?

Adam Khor wrote: »

If I'm not mistaken it was more closely related to Cymbospondylus. I actually remember reading that it was probably a Cymbo species. Guess they changed their mind.

Yes, I think so. According to the authors Thallatoarchon is a basal member of the Merriamosauria. I don't know much about ichtyosaurs so this dson't mean a lot to me. It's a very large group that includes more famous Jurassic forms such as Ichtyosaurus and Ophtalmosaurus. Though as it's a primitive member of the group it doesn't have an y particularly close relatives (yet).

Adam Khor wrote: »

Sure, but that is only to be expected considering the kind of prey it was taking...

Indeed. A food web in the supplementary information suggests it even preyed upon Cymbospondylus.

Galvasean

"Oh no, not another T-rex!"

:P