Ischyrodon

Ischyrodon
Temporal range: Middle Jurassic, Callovian
↓
NMB L.D.37, the holotype tooth crown; in (A) mesial, (B) lingual, (C) apical, (D) labial, and (E) distal view
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Reptilia
Order:
†Plesiosauria
Suborder:
†Pliosauroidea
Family:
†Pliosauridae
(unranked):
†Thalassophonea
Genus:
†Ischyrodon

von Meyer, 1838
Binomial name
†Ischyrodon meriani
von Meyer, 1838 vide von Meyer, 1856

Ischyrodon is a dubious genus of large, carnivorous marine reptile belonging to the Pliosauroidea, a clade of short-necked plesiosaurs and it is known from the Middle Jurassic (Callovian) of Wölflinswil, Switzerland. The type species is I. meriani,[1][2] and was previously listed as a synonym of Liopleurodon ferox.[3]

Ischyrodon was named in 1838 and described in 1856 by Hermann von Meyer.[1][2] Lambert Beverly Tarlo noted the possibility of it pertaining to Liopleurodon in 1960.[3] A 2022 study by Daniel Madzia and colleagues noted that while the tooth likely came from Liopleurodon or something similar, there was too little information available to make a confident assignment, so they treated Ischyrodon as a nomen dubium and did not synonymise Ischyrodon with Liopleurodon.[4]

  1. ^ a b von Meyer H. (1838). Mittheilungen, an Prof. Bronn gerichtet. Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geognosie, Geologie und Petrefaktenkunde. Jahrgang 1838:413-41
  2. ^ a b Meyer, H. v. (1856). "Ischyrodon meriani aus dem Oolith im Frickthale". Palaeontographica. 6: 19–21.
  3. ^ a b Tarlo LB. (1960). A review of the Upper Jurassic pliosaurs. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology, London 4(5):145-189
  4. ^ Madzia, D.; Sachs, S.; Klug, C. (2022). "Historical significance and taxonomic status of Ischyrodon meriani (Pliosauridae) from the Middle Jurassic of Switzerland". PeerJ. 10: e13244. doi:10.7717/peerj.13244. PMC 8995022. PMID 35415018.