Grippia
Name: Grippia
(Anchor).
Phonetic: Grip-ee-ah.
Named By: Wiman - 1929.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Ichthyopterygia, Grippidia, Grippiidae.
Species: G. longirostris
(type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: 1 to 1.5 meters long.
Known locations: Canada, China, Greenland and
Japan.
Time period: Olenekian to Anisian of the Triassic.
Fossil representation: Several specimens.
The
best specimen of Grippia was destroyed in World War
II, so today we
have only this description and other less complete specimens left to
study. This makes the key question about what this early
ichthyosaur
ate very difficult to answer. Early ideas had Grippia
down as a predator of armoured prey like shellfish, but later study
has revealed that the teeth are not especially suited for these kinds
of animals. Instead the wider consensus is that Grippia
was a
generalist that did not rely upon a single kind of prey animal for food.
Grippia
longirostris fossils were once thought to come Spitsbergen, the main
island of Svalbard, but these remains are now actually thought to
have belonged to Helveticosaurus,
which itself was once thought to be
a placodont.
Further reading
- Grippia longirostris Wiman, 1929, un
Ichthyopterygia primitif du
Trias inférieur du Spitsberg. - Bulletin du Muséum National d’Histoire
Naturelle 4:317–340. - J. -M. Mazin - 1981.
- Skull of Grippia longirostris: no contradiction
with a diapsid
affinity for the Ichthyopterygia. - Palaeontology 43:1-14. - R. Motani
- 2000.
-
Cranial morphology and relationships of a new grippidian
(Ichtyopterygia) from the Vega-Phroso Siltstone Member (Lower Triassic)
of British Columbia, Canada. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 33
(4): 831–847. - R. S. Cuthbertson, A. P. Russel & J. S. Anderson -
2013.
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