Mixosaurus

Mixosaurus
Temporal range: Triassic
(Anisian to Ladinian, about 247–242 Mya)[1]
Dorsal view of fossil showing top of skull
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: †Ichthyosauria
Family: †Mixosauridae
Subfamily: †Mixosaurinae
Genus: †Mixosaurus
Baur, 1887
Type species
Ichthyosaurus cornalianus
(Bassani, 1886)
Species
  • M. cornalianus (Bassani, 1886)
  • M. kuhnschnyderi (Brinkmann, 1998)
  • M. luxiensis Fang, Wolniewicz & Liu, 2024
  • M. panxianensis? Jiang, Schmitz, Hao & Sun, 2006
  • M. xindianensis?[2] Chen & Cheng, 2010
  • M. xinzhaiensis?[3] Chen et al., 2016

Mixosaurus is an extinct genus of Middle Triassic (Anisian to Ladinian, about 250-240 Mya) ichthyosaur. Its fossils have been found near the Italy–Switzerland border and in South China.[1]

The genus was named in 1887 by George H. Baur. The name means "Mixed Lizard", and was chosen because it appears to have been a transitional form between the eel-shaped ichthyosaurs such as Cymbospondylus and the later dolphin-shaped ichthyosaurs, such as Ichthyosaurus. Baur named Mixosaurus as a new genus because its forefin was sufficiently different from that of Ichthyosaurus.[4]

Numerous species have been described within this genus, which was once considered as the most common genus of Triassic ichthyosaurs.[4] The type species is M. cornalianus, and the definitive number of species is debated among researchers.[3]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Ji_2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Liu_2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference F2024 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Motani1999 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).