First record of the leptonectid ichthyosaur Eurhinosaurus longirostris from the Early Jurassic of Switzerland and its stratigraphic framework

Reisdorf, Achim G.; Maisch, Michael W.; Wetzel, Andreas

doi:10.1007/s00015-011-0069-x

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 16 publications

(19 reference statements)

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“…There is ample evidence that ichthyosaurs and most other lung-breathing marine tetrapods of comparable mode of life were negatively buoyant. This is Table 1 These data on the occurrences and abundances of preservational modes (disarticulated skeletons DS; and isolated bones IB) were obtained from museum collection counts (Paläontologische Forschungs-, Lehrund Schausammlung am Institut für Geowissenschaften Universität Tübingen, Sammlung am Staatlichen Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart) and from the literature (Altmann 1965;Benton and Taylor 1984;Benton and Spencer 1995;Berckhemer 1938;Dean et al 1961;Delair 1960;Fraas 1891;Hauff 1921;von Huene 1922von Huene , 1931Knitter and Ohmert 1983;Maisch 1999;Maisch and Reisdorf 2006;Maisch et al 2008;Martin et al 1986;McGowan 1978;McGowan and Motani 2003;Meyer and Furrer 1995;Pratje 1922;Quenstedt 1858;Reiff 1935;Reisdorf et al 2011;Schieber 1936); for a comment of the quality of the data, see text corroborated by the fact that even the density of some of the lightest Recent cetaceans (e.g., harbor porpoise Phocoena phocoena) is higher than that previously assumed for the most common European ichthyosaur Stenopterygius (Kemp et al 2006;McLellan et al 2002;Motani 2001;Reisdorf 2007). Therefore, previous body mass calculations of ichthyosaur bodies, which presume a seawater density of the ichthyosaurs, are too low (Reisdorf 2007).…”

Section: Conclusion and Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Float, explode or sink: postmortem fate of lung-breathing marine vertebrates

Reisdorf

Bux

Wyler

et al. 2012

Palaeobio Palaeoenv

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What happens after the death of a marine tetrapod in seawater? Palaeontologists and neontologists have claimed that large lung-breathing marine tetrapods such as ichthyosaurs had a lower density than seawater, implying that their carcasses floated at the surface after death and sank subsequently after leakage of putrefaction gases (or ''carcass explosions''). Such explosions would thus account for the skeletal disarticulation observed frequently in the fossil record. We examined the taphonomy and sedimentary environment of numerous ichthyosaur skeletons and compared them to living marine tetrapods, principally cetaceans, and measured abdominal pressures in human carcasses. Our data and a review of the literature demonstrate that carcasses sink and do not explode (and spread skeletal elements). We argue that the normally slightly negatively buoyant carcasses of ichthyosaurs would have sunk to the sea floor and risen to the surface only when they remained in shallow water above a certain temperature and at a low scavenging rate. Once surfaced, prolonged floating may have occurred and a carcass have decomposed gradually. Our conclusions are of significance to the understanding of the inclusion of carcasses of lung-breathing vertebrates in marine nutrient recycling. The postmortem fate has essential implications for the interpretation of vertebrate fossil preservation (the existence of complete, disarticulated fossil skeletons is not explained by previous hypotheses), palaeobathymetry, the physiology of modern marine lung-breathing tetrapods and their conservation, and the recovery of human bodies from seawater.

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Section: Conclusion and Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Float, explode or sink: postmortem fate of lung-breathing marine vertebrates

Reisdorf

Bux

Wyler

et al. 2012

Palaeobio Palaeoenv

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“…The incomplete sclerotic ring is preserved in articulation, filling the entire vacuity of the orbit as in juvenile ichthyosaurs (Fernández et al 2005; Kear & Zammit, 2013) and adult leptonectids (e.g. Huene, 1951; Maisch & Matzke, 2000 b , 2003; McGowan, 2003; McGowan & Motani, 2003; Maisch & Reisdorf, 2006; Reisdorf, Maisch & Wetzel, 2011). The orbit appears large relative to skull size; the jugal and postorbital bones are reduced and slender, as in Leptonectidae (e.g.…”

Section: Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mary Anning's legacy to French vertebrate palaeontology

et al. 2013

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“…The tooth crowns are slightly recurved and markedly elongated: the apicobasal height / basal diameter ratio is 11 mm / 4 mm = 2.75 (Figures 5, 6), very similar to some species of Stenopterygius (Maxwell, Fernández, et al, 2012), Hauffiopteryx (Maxwell and Cortés, 2020), and in leptonectids such as most species of Leptonectes (Fraas, 1892;Huene, 1922;McGowan, 1989McGowan, , 1993 (with the exception of Leptonectes moorei [McGowan and Milner, 1999]), Eurhinosaurus longirostris (Reisdorf et al, 2011), and Wahlisaurus massarae (Lomax, 2016) (Figure 6). This condition is clearly distinct from the stouter teeth seen in Temnodontosaurus spp.…”

Section: Snoutmentioning

confidence: 62%

A fragmentary leptonectid ichthyosaurian from the lower Pliensbachian of Luxembourg

Fischer

Laboury

Bernacki

et al. 2022

Palaeontol Electron

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Despite abundant fossils, the quality of the fossil record of Early Jurassic marine reptiles strongly fluctuates with time and space. Pliensbachian strata have yielded very few marine reptile remains, especially outside of England, obscuring the evolution of marine reptiles during the middle part of the Early Jurassic. We report a new Pliensbachian locality from Luxembourg that contains abundant marine fauna and ichthyosaurian remains likely representing a single individual, composed of a partial snout, a possible surangular, two centra, and several ribs and gastralia. Ammonites and belemnites place this locality within the Valdani-Luridum Ammonite subzones of the Ibex Ammonite Zone, lower Pliensbachian. We assign the new ichthyosaur specimen to the clade Leptonectidae, using a combination of features from the snout and teeth. This specimen indicates that large neoichthyosaurians were present in multiple places of the European archipelago in all stages of the Early Jurassic and suggests that the ichthyosaurian faunae of western Europe remained essentially similar across the Sinemurian-Pliensbachian interval.

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First record of the leptonectid ichthyosaur Eurhinosaurus longirostris from the Early Jurassic of Switzerland and its stratigraphic framework

Cited by 11 publications

References 16 publications

Float, explode or sink: postmortem fate of lung-breathing marine vertebrates

Float, explode or sink: postmortem fate of lung-breathing marine vertebrates

Mary Anning's legacy to French vertebrate palaeontology

A fragmentary leptonectid ichthyosaurian from the lower Pliensbachian of Luxembourg

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