Dino card No. 0175 of 2,027

Arthropterygius

Say it: AR-throh-ter-IJ-ee-us

Name means: “wing fin”1

Ate: MeatIchthyosaursLate Jurassic to Early CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Arthropterygius was a large, fish-shaped marine reptile that swam in the oceans during the late Jurassic period. It had a long snout and strong flippers, and it was a fast hunter of fish and squid.1 3

Fun fact: this sea reptile swam while dinosaurs walked on land. Everyone calls them dinos, but they were a different branch of reptiles.

Lived

162 to 143 million years ago3

Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Canada (Northwest Territories), Norway (Svalbard), Russia, and Argentina1 3

Food

Meat3

Length

3 to 5 m1

for all species

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

as long as 5 dogs nose to tailas long as 28 bananas end to end

How big was Arthropterygius compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

Arthropterygius had a special opening for the internal carotid artery on the back of its braincase, a feature unique among ichthyosaurs.2

Fossils of Arthropterygius have been found in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, showing it lived in warm and cold seas.1 2

One specimen from Svalbard, Norway, was about 3.8 to 4.3 metres (12 to 14 feet) long and was probably an adult.1

The name Arthropterygius means 'wing fin', referring to the shape of its flippers.1

Arthropterygius lived in shallow seas with methane seeps, where the seafloor was about 150 metres (490 feet) deep and had little oxygen.1

It belonged to a group called ophthalmosaurids, which were the last surviving ichthyosaurs before they went extinct.1

AI-made picture of Arthropterygius — An AI-made picture of how Arthropterygius might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Arthropterygius

?How big was Arthropterygius?

Arthropterygius was a relatively large ichthyosaur, with all species measuring between 3 and 5 metres (9.8 to 16.4 feet) long.1

?What did Arthropterygius eat?

It was a fast hunter of fish and squid, using its long snout and strong flippers to catch prey.1

?Was Arthropterygius a dinosaur?

No, Arthropterygius was an ichthyosaur, a type of marine reptile that lived in the oceans, not a dinosaur.1

?Where did Arthropterygius live?

Fossils of Arthropterygius have been found in Canada, Norway, Russia, and Argentina, showing it lived in both warm and cold seas across the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Arthropterygius
Named by: Maxwell 20103
Group: Ichthyosaurs
Family / clade: Ophthalmosauridae3
Classification: Ichthyosauria > Ichthyosauromorpha3
Age of the rocks: 162 to 143 million years (Oxfordian / Tithonian)3
Rock formations: Ringnes, Agardhfjellet, Vaca Muerta3
Countries: Canada, Norway, Argentina, Russia3
Fossil records: 8 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: The first fossils of Arthropterygius were found on Melville Island, Canada, and were originally named Ophthalmosaurus chrisorum in 1993. In 2010, scientist Erin Maxwell gave them a new genus name, Arthropterygius.1 3
Still debated: Scientists are not sure if Arthropterygius lived into the earliest Cretaceous period, or if it went extinct at the end of the Jurassic.1

Where the facts come from

Arthropterygius (en.wikipedia.org)
Original article The genus Arthropterygius Maxwell (Ichthyosauria: Ophthalmosauridae) in the Late Jurassic of the Neuquén Basin, Argentina ☆ (sciencedirect.com)
Arthropterygius in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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