Cryopterygius

Name: Cryopterygius Cryopterygius‭ (‬frozen wing‭ (‬wing as in flipper‭))‬.
Phonetic: Cry-op-teh-re-ge-us.
Named By: Patrick S.‭ ‬Druckenmiller,‭ ‬J�rn H.‭ ‬Hurum,‭ ‬Espen M.‭ ‬Knutsen‭ & ‬Hans Arne Nakrem‭ ‬-‭ ‬2012.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Ichthyosauria,‭ ‬Ophthalmosauridae.
Species: C.‭ ‬kristiansenae‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Piscivore/Carnivore.
Size: Length of the preserved holotype is‭ ‬4.6‭ ‬meters long.‭ ‬Length of the complete animal in life estimated about‭ ‬5‭ ‬-‭ ‬5.5‭ ‬meters long.
Known locations: Norway,‭ ‬Spitsbergen‭ ‬-‭ ‬Agardhfjellet Formation,‭ ‬Slottsm�ya Member.
Time period: Tithonian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Single individual including an almost complete articulated skull and post cranial skeleton,‭ ‬lacking part of the tail.

       First discovered in‭ ‬2009,‭ ‬the holotype specimen of Cryopterygius was found quite complete,‭ ‬only the posterior portion of the tail is missing.‭ ‬The main length of Cryopterygius from the tip of the snout to the posterior regions of the body is just over four and a half meters long,‭ ‬Depending upon how long the tail was,‭ ‬the total length of Cryopterygius would be expected to be somewhere between five and five and a half meters long.
       Cryopterygius has been identified as an ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur.‭ ‬This means that Cryopterygius is related to the type genus of the Ophthalmosauridae Ophthalmosaurus as well as other genera such as Platypterygius,‭ ‬Brachypterygius,‭ ‬Mollesaurus and Caypullisaurus among many others.

Further reading
-‭ ‬Two new ophthalmosaurids‭ (‬Reptilia:‭ ‬Ichthyosauria‭) ‬from the Agardhfjellet Formation‭ (‬Upper Jurassic:‭ ‬Volgian/Tithonian‭)‬,‭ ‬Svalbard,‭ ‬Norway‭ ‬-‭ ‬Norwegian Journal of Geology‭ ‬92‭ (‬2-3‭)‬:‭ ‬311‭–‬339‭ ‬-‭ ‬Patrick S.‭ ‬Druckenmiller,‭ ‬J�rn H.‭ ‬Hurum,‭ ‬Espen M.‭ ‬Knutsen‭ & ‬Hans Arne Nakrem‭ ‬-‭ ‬2012.






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