Pessopteryx

Pessopteryx
Temporal range: Early Triassic, Olenekian
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Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: †Ichthyosauria
Family: †Merriamosauridae
Genus: †Pessopteryx
Wiman, 1910
Species
  • †P. nisseri Wiman, 1910 (type)
Synonyms
  • Merriamosaurus hulkei Maisch & Matzke, 2002
  • Omphalosaurus niesseri (Wiman, 1910)
  • Rotundopteryx hulkei Maisch & Matzke, 2000 non Duckhouse, 1999

Pessopteryx is an extinct genus of ichthyosaur from the Early Triassic (Olenekian) of Svalbard, Norway.[1] The genus originally contained four species, P. nisseri, P. arctica, P. pinguis, and P. minor, which were named in 1910 by Carl Wiman.[2][3] Only P. nisseri is still considered valid; P. arctica and P. pinguis are considered nomina dubia while P. minor was reassigned to the tenuous genus Isfjordosaurus.[3] Omphalosaurus nisseri, Merriamosaurus hulkei, and Rotundopteryx hulkei are all junior synonyms of P. nisseri.[1]

  1. ^ a b Maisch, M. W. (2010). "Phylogeny, systematics, and origin of the Ichthyosauria – the state of the art" (PDF). Palaeodiversity. 3: 151–214.
  2. ^ Wiman, C. (1910). "Ichthyosaurier aus der Trias Spitzbergens" [Ichthyosaurs from the Triassic of Spitzbergen] (PDF). Bulletin of the Geological Institution of the University of Upsala (in German). 10: 125–148.
  3. ^ a b Maxwell, E. E.; Kear, B. P. (2013). "Triassic ichthyopterygian assemblages of the Svalbard archipelago: A reassessment of taxonomy and distribution". GFF. 135 (1): 85–94. doi:10.1080/11035897.2012.759145.