Nothosaurs were Triassic marine sauropterygian reptiles that may have lived like seals of today, catching food in water but coming ashore on rocks and beaches. They averaged about 3 metres (10 ft) in length, with a long body and tail. The feet were paddle-like, and are known to have been webbed in life, to help power the animal when swimming. The neck was quite long, and the head was elongated and flattened, and relatively small in relation to the body. The margins of the long jaws were equipped with numerous sharp outward-pointing teeth, indicating a diet of fish and squid.
Mixosaurus is an extinct genus of Middle Triassic ichthyosaur. Its fossils have been found near the Italy–Switzerland border and in South China.
Chaohusaurus is an extinct genus of basal ichthyopterygian, depending on definition possibly ichthyosaur, from the Early Triassic of Chaohu and Yuanan, China.
Thalattosauria is an extinct order of prehistoric marine reptiles that lived in the middle to late Triassic period. Thalattosaurs were diverse in size and shape, and are divided into two superfamilies: Askeptosauroidea and Thalattosauroidea. Askeptosauroids were endemic to the Tethys Ocean, their fossils have been found in Europe and China, and they were likely semiaquatic fish eaters with straight snouts and decent terrestrial abilities. Thalattosauroids were more specialized for aquatic life and most had unusual downturned snouts and crushing dentition. Thalattosauroids lived along the coasts of both Panthalassa and the Tethys Ocean, and were most diverse in China and western North America. The largest species of thalattosaurs grew to over 4 meters (13 feet) in length, including a long, flattened tail utilized in underwater propulsion. Although thalattosaurs bore a superficial resemblance to lizards, their exact relationships are unresolved. They are widely accepted as diapsids, but experts have variously placed them on the reptile family tree among Lepidosauromorpha, Archosauromorpha, ichthyosaurs, and/or other marine reptiles.
Macrocnemus is an extinct genus of archosauromorph reptile known from the Middle Triassic of Europe and China. Macrocnemus is a member of the Tanystropheidae family and includes three species. Macrocnemus bassanii, the first species to be named and described, is known from the Besano Formation and adjacent paleontological sites in the Italian and Swiss Alps. Macrocnemus fuyuanensis, on the other hand, is known from the Falang Formation in southern China. A third species, Macrocnemus obristi, is known from the Prosanto Formation of Switzerland and is characterized by gracile limbs. The name Macrocnemus is Greek for "long tibia".
Dianopachysaurus is an extinct genus of pachypleurosaur known from the lower Middle Triassic of Yunnan Province, southwestern China. It was found in the Middle Triassic Lagerstatte of the Guanling Formation. It was first named by Jun Liu, Olivier Rieppel, Da-Yong Jiang, Jonathan C. Aitchison, Ryosuke Motani, Qi-Yue Zhang, Chang-Yong Zhou and Yuan-Yuan Sun in 2011 and the type species is Dianopachysaurus dingi, thanking a Professor Ding for his help.
Sinosaurosphargis is an extinct genus of basal marine saurosphargid reptile known from the Middle Triassic Guanling Formation of Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces, southwestern China. It contains a single species, Sinosaurosphargis yunguiensis.
Wumengosaurus is an extinct aquatic reptile from the Middle Triassic Guanling Formation of Guizhou, southwestern China. Originally described as a basal eosauropterygian, and usually recovered as such by recent phylogenetic analyses, one recent phylogeny has placed it as the sister taxon to Ichthyosauromorpha while refraining from a formal re-positioning.
Largocephalosaurus is an extinct genus of basal saurosphargid, a marine reptile known from the Middle Triassic Guanling Formation of Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces, southwestern China. It contains a type species, Largocephalosaurus polycarpon, and a second species L. qianensis.
Thalattoarchon is an extinct genus of ichthyosaur from the Middle Triassic of the western United States. The type species Thalattoarchon saurophagis was discovered in Nevada, USA, in 2010 and formally described in 2013. It is known from a single skeleton, holotype FMNH PR 3032, consisting of a partial skull, vertebral column, hip bones, and parts of the hind fins. The total length of Thalattoarchon is estimated to have been at least 8.6 metres (28 ft). Thalattoarchon is thought to have been one of the first marine macropredators capable of eating prey that was similar in size to itself, an ecological role that can be compared to that of modern orcas. Thalattoarchon lived four million years after the first appearance of ichthyosaurs in the Early Triassic and is therefore the oldest known marine reptile to have been an apex predator. It lived eight million years after the Permian-Triassic extinction event, indicating a fast recovery of marine ecosystems after the mass extinction.
Cartorhynchus is an extinct genus of early ichthyosauriform marine reptile that lived during the Early Triassic epoch, about 248 million years ago. The genus contains a single species, Cartorhynchus lenticarpus, named in 2014 by Ryosuke Motani and colleagues from a single nearly-complete skeleton found near Chaohu, Anhui Province, China. Along with its close relative Sclerocormus, Cartorhynchus was part of a diversification of marine reptiles that occurred suddenly during the Spathian substage, soon after the devastating Permian-Triassic extinction event, but they were subsequently driven to extinction by volcanism and sea level changes by the Middle Triassic.
The Ichthyosauriformes are a group of marine reptiles, belonging to the Ichthyosauromorpha, that lived during the Mesozoic.
This timeline of ichthyosaur research is a chronological listing of events in the history of paleontology focused on the ichthyosauromorphs, a group of secondarily aquatic marine reptiles whose later members superficially resembled dolphins, sharks, or swordfish. Scientists have documented ichthyosaur fossils at least as far back as the late 17th century. At that time, a scholar named Edward Lhwyd published a book on British fossils that misattributed some ichthyosaur vertebrae to actual fishes; their true nature was not recognized until the 19th century. In 1811, a boy named Joseph Anning discovered the first ichthyosaur fossils that would come to be scientifically recognized as such. His sister Mary would later find the rest of its skeleton and would go on to become a respected fossil collector and paleontologist in her own right.
Eohupehsuchus is a genus of extinct aquatic diapsid from the Upper Spathian of Hubei Province, located in Central China. The genus is monotypic and belongs to the order Hupehsuchia, whose members are characterized by toothless beak-like snouts, a row of dermal plates along their backs, and aquatic adaptations including paddle-shaped limbs and fusiform bodies with pachyostotic ribs.
Eretmorhipis is an extinct genus of hupehsuchian marine reptiles from the Early Triassic of China. It is currently known from two specimens that were discovered in an exposure of the Jialingjiang Formation in Yuan'an County, Hubei, and referred to the newly named species Eretmorhipis carrolldongi in 2015. One of those specimens, the holotype WGSC V26020, had been known since 1991 and consists of the entire skeleton excluding the skull. The second specimen, IVPP V4070, is an impression of the right side of the back half of the skeleton, as well as part of the right fore limb. Two more specimens were discovered in 2018 at the same location, one of which is almost complete and includes the skull.
Wangosaurus is an extinct genus of basal pistosauroid known from the Middle Triassic Falang Formation of Xingyi in Guizhou Province, southwestern China. It contains a single species, Wangosaurus brevirostris, first described and named by Le-Tian Ma, Da-Yong Jiang, Olivier Rieppel, Ryosuke Motani and Andrea Tintori in 2015. The specific name brevirostris comes from Greek for "short snout". It is known solely from its holotype, a nearly complete and articulated skeleton missing only the rear part of its tail.
Saurosphargidae is an extinct family of marine reptiles known from the early Middle Triassic of Europe and China.
Sclerocormus is an extinct genus of ichthyosauriform from the early Triassic period. The fossil was discovered in the central Anhui Province, China. It is currently only known from one specimen, however the fossil is mostly complete and as such further increases our understanding of the early evolution of ichthyosaurs.
