Baptanodon

Baptanodon
Temporal range: Late Jurassic, 160–156 Ma
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Holotype skull of B. natans
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: †Ichthyosauria
Family: †Ophthalmosauridae
Subfamily: †Ophthalmosaurinae
Genus: †Baptanodon
Marsh, 1880
Type species
†Baptanodon natans
Marsh, 1880
Synonyms
  • Ophthalmosaurus natans Marsh, 1879
  • Sauranodon Marsh, 1879 (preoccupied)
  • Microdontosaurus Gilmore, 1902

Baptanodon is an ichthyosaur of the Late Jurassic period (160-156 million years ago), named for its supposed lack of teeth (although teeth of this genus have since been discovered).[1] It had a graceful 3.5 m (11 ft) long dolphin-shaped body, and its jaws were well adapted for catching squid.[2] Major fossil finds of this genus have been recorded in North America. The type species, Sauranodon natans, was originally included under Sauranodon in 1879,[3] but this name was preoccupied.

  1. ^ Gilmore, C. W. (1902). "Discovery of teeth in Baptanodon, an ichthyosaurian from the Jurassic of Wyoming". Science. 16 (414): 913–914. Bibcode:1902Sci....16..913G. doi:10.1126/science.16.414.913. PMID 17756122.
  2. ^ Massare, J.A.; Wahl, W.R.; Ross, M.; Connely, M.V. (2014). "Palaeoecology of the marine reptiles of the Redwater Shale Member of the Sundance Formation (Jurassic) of central Wyoming, USA". Geological Magazine. 151 (1): 167–182. doi:10.1017/S0016756813000472.
  3. ^ O. C. Marsh. 1879. A new order of extinct reptiles (Sauranodonta), from the Jurassic Formation of the Rocky Mountains. The American Journal of Science and Arts, series 3