It has been suggested that this article be
merged into
Phalarodon. (
Discuss) Proposed since December 2023. |
Contectopalatus Temporal range: Mid
Triassic,
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Fossil | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | † Ichthyosauria |
Family: | † Mixosauridae |
Genus: | †
Contectopalatus Maisch & Matzke, 1998 |
Species: | †C. atavus
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Binomial name | |
†Contectopalatus atavus Quenstedt, 1851 (originally
Ichthyosaurus)
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Contectopalatus was a primitive ichthyosaur, an extinct fish-like marine reptile from the Middle Triassic of Germany and China. [2] It was originally named Ichthyosaurus atavus by Quenstedt in 1852, [3]: 67 and later reassigned to Mixosaurus. It was recognised as a separate genus by Maisch and Matzke in 1998, though other researchers have classified it as a species of Phalarodon instead. [2] [4] [5]
In 2000, Maisch and Matzke noted that Contectopalatus was a large mixosaurid, calculating a skull length of 40 centimetres (1 ft 4 in). Based on jaw fragments, they estimated another specimen they assigned to the species to have been even larger, with a skull length of 70–80 centimetres (2.3–2.6 ft) and a total length of roughly 4.5–5 metres (15–16 ft). [6] [7] McGowan and Motani (2003), however, considered these estimates to be based on material to fragmentary for confident estimation and taxonomic assignment, instead considering the species to be a small mixosaurid, like the roughly 1 metre (3.3 ft) long Mixosaurus cornalianus. [3]: 67