Leptonectes

Name: Leptonectes ‭(‬Delicate swimmer‭)‬.
Phonetic: Lep-toe-nek-teez.
Named By: Von Huene‭ ‬-‭ ‬1922.
Synonyms: Ichthyosaurus tenuirostris,‭ ‬Leptopterygius tenuirostris.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Ichthyosauria,‭ ‬Leptopterygiidae.
Species: L.‭ ‬tenuirostris‭ (‬type‭)‬,‭ ‬L.‭ ‬moorei,‭ ‬L.‭ ‬solei.
Diet: Piscivore.
Size: Details uncertain.
Known locations: Western Europe including,‭ ‬Belgium,‭ ‬England,‭ ‬Germany, Spain and Switzerland.‭
Time period: Rhaetian‭ ‬of the Triassic through to Pliensbachian‭ ‬of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Several specimens.

       Leptonectes is the type genus of Leptopterygiidae group of ichthyosaurs that had specialised upper jaws that protruded beyond the end of the lower jaw.‭ ‬This group of ichthyosaurs are sometimes envisioned using these snouts to stir up sediment on the sea floor‭ ‬to find buried prey,‭ ‬however because their jaws resemble those of swordfish it is thought that they may have used them like swordfish to kill prey.‭ ‬This would involve using their long rostrum to swipe at fish in front of them and causing injuries to their flanks so that they could not swim away,‭ ‬thus significantly increasing the chance of prey capture.
       Two other ichthyosaurs with similar elongated snouts to Leptonectes are Eurhinosaurus and Excalibosaurus.

Further reading
- Additional notices on the fossil genera Ichthyosaurus and plesiosaurus. - Transactions of the Geological Society of London, Series 2 1:103-123. - W. D. Conybeare - 1822.
- A new Pliensbachian Ichthyosaur from Dorset, England. - Palaeontology 42(5):761-768. - C. McGowan & A. C. Milner - 1999.
- Evidence for the longest stratigraphic range of a post-Triassic Ichthyosaur: a Leptonectes tenuirostris from the Pliensbachian (Lower Jurassic) of Switzerland. - Geobios 39: 491-505. - M.W. Maisch & R. G. Reisdorf - 2006.
- First report of Leptonectes (Ichthyosauria: Leptonectidae) from the Lower Jurassic (Pliensbachian) of Asturias, northern Spain. - Palaeontologia Electronica. 21 (2): Article number 21.2.29A. - Marta S. Fernández, Laura Piñuela & José Carlos García-Ramos - 2018.

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