Discovery of the first ichthyosaur from the Jurassic of India: Implications for Gondwanan palaeobiogeography

Abstract

An articulated and partially preserved skeleton of an ichthyosaur was found in the Upper Jurassic (Upper Kimmeridgian) Katrol Formation exposed at a site south of the village Lodai in Kachchh district, Gujarat (western India). Here we present a detailed description and inferred taxonomic relationship of the specimen. The present study revealed that the articulated skeleton belongs to the family Ophthalmosauridae. The new discovery from India further improves the depauperate fossil record of ichthyosaurs from the former Gondwanan continents. Based on the preserved length of the axial skeleton and anterior part of the snout and taking into account the missing parts of the skull and postflexural region, it is suggested that the specimen may represent an adult possibly reaching a length of 5.0–5.5 m. The widespread occurrence of ophthalmosaurids in the Upper Jurassic deposits of western Tethys, Madagascar, South America and India points to possible faunal exchanges between the western Tethys and Gondwanan continents through a southern seaway.

Peer Review #2 of "A new specimen of Palvennia hoybergeti: implications for cranial and pectoral girdle anatomy in ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaurs (v0.1)"

“…The dorsal process of the humerus of PMO 222.669 originates near the midpoint of the proximal end similar to that seen in the Indian Ophthalmosauridae indet. KGMV-0501 (Prasad et al, 2017), and its long axis is angled less anteriorly than in PMO 222.667, PMO 224.250 and PMO 230.097. The dorsal process extends to the proximodistal midpoint, as in Undorosaurus gorodischensis (Efimov, 1999a) and Ophthalmosaurus icenicus (Moon & Kirton, 2016).…”

New marine reptile fossils from the Oxfordian (Late Jurassic) of Greenland

“…The now-abandoned hypothesis that the Late Jurassic saw a decline in Ichthyosauria (Bardet, 1994;Sander, 2000;Lingham-Soliar, 2003;Benson et al 2010) was probably a result of a small number of fossiliferous locations yielding ichthyosaurs, few articulated and/or complete specimens and small datasets for phylogenetic analyses (Maxwell, 2010). Since 2000, ichthyosaurs from the Late Jurassic have been reported from many new localities in France, Germany, Argentina, Russia, UK, Colombia, Italy, Poland, Mexico, Cuba, Canada, India and Spitsbergen (Buffetaut et al 2003;Buchy, 2010;Gasparini et al 2015;Delsett et al 2016;Paparella et al 2016;Tyborowski, 2016;Prasad et al 2017) (Fig. 6).…”

A new specimen ofPalvennia hoybergeti: implications for cranial and pectoral girdle anatomy in ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaurs

“…The dorsal process of the humerus of PMO 222.669 originates near the midpoint of the proximal end similar to that seen in the Indian Ophthalmosauridae indet. KGMV-0501 ( Prasad et al, 2017 ), and its long axis is angled less anteriorly than in PMO 222.667, PMO 224.250, and PMO 222.658. The dorsal process extends to the proximodistal midpoint, as in Undorosaurus gorodischensis ( Efimov, 1999a ) and O. icenicus ( Moon & Kirton, 2016 ).…”