| Leninia Temporal range: Early Cretaceous,
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | †Ichthyosauria |
| Family: | †Ophthalmosauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Ophthalmosaurinae |
| Genus: | †Leninia Fischer et al., 2013 |
| Type species | |
| †Leninia stellans Fischer et al., 2013
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Leninia is an extinct genus of basal ophthalmosaurine ichthyosaur known from the late Early Cretaceous (lower Aptian stage) of western Russia. Leninia was first named by Valentin Fischer, Maxim S. Arkhangelsky, Gleb N. Uspensky, Ilya M. Stenshin and Pascal Godefroit in 2013 and the type species is Leninia stellans.[1] It was named for Vladimir Lenin, one of the leaders of the Communist Revolution in Russia, but not directlу: the museum where fossils is housed is located within the Lenin Memorial and Lenin school complex in Ulyanovsk; accordingly, the generic name reflects the geohistorical location of the find.
The specimen was discovered in 2012, on the banks of the river Volga near the town of Kriushi in a limestone nodule. There are several other fossils from the same time period near it, including ammonites, lamellibranchs and fish remains. Only part of the skull was found.[2]
- ^ Fischer, V.; Arkhangelsky, M. S.; Uspensky, G. N.; Stenshin, I. M.; Godefroit, P. (2013). "A new Lower Cretaceous ichthyosaur from Russia reveals skull shape conservatism within Ophthalmosaurinae" (PDF). Geological Magazine. 151: 60–70. Bibcode:2014GeoM..151...60F. doi:10.1017/S0016756812000994.
- ^ Fischer, Valentin; Arkhangelsky, Maxim; N Uspensky, Gleb; Stenshin, Ilya; Godefroit, Pascal (2013-01-01). "A new Lower Cretaceous ichthyosaur from Russia reveals skull shape conservatism within Ophthalmosaurinae". Geological Magazine. 151: 60–70. Bibcode:2014GeoM..151...60F. doi:10.1017/S0016756812000994. hdl:2268/137853.