Phalarodon fraasi Merriam, 1910
Systematics: Ichthyosauromorpha Ichthyosauria Mixosauria Mixosauridae Phalarodontinae
Size: 1.2 m long
Type Horizon and Locality: Middle Triassic, Fossil Hill Member, Prida Formation (Anisian) Humboldt county, Nevada, US
Type Specimen: UCMP 9853, fragmentary skull
This small primitive ichthyosaur ("fish reptile") has been first described in 1910 from a fragmentary skull found in Nevada (housed at the University of California Berkeley Museum of Paleontology). It has since been discovered in more complete forms in the Guizhou Province of China, indicating a wide oceanic distribution. The generic name means "round boss tooth" from the rounded back teeth visible in the holotype specimen.
September 22, 2019
References:
Jiang, D. Y., Schmitz, L., Motani, R., Hao, W. C., & Sun, Y. L. (2007). The mixosaurid ichthyosaur Phalarodon cf. P. fraasi from the Middle Triassic of Guizhou Province, China. Journal of Paleontology, 81(3), 602-605.
All illustrations on this site are copyrighted to Nobu Tamura. The low resolution versions of the images are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution- ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license meaning that you are free to use them as long as you properly credit the author (© N. Tamura). High resolution versions are available upon request. Questions: contact me at nobu dot tamura at yahoo dot com.