Dino card No. 1186 of 2,015

Mixosaurus

Say it: MIX-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “Mixed Lizard”1

Ate: MeatIchthyosaursMiddle TriassicNot technically a dinosaur

Mixosaurus was an ancient marine reptile that swam in the seas about 250 to 240 million years ago. It had a long tail, a small fin on its back, and paddle-like limbs with five toes each. It was not a dinosaur, but an ichthyosaur, and it ate fish with its sharp teeth.1

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

Lived

247 to 237 million years ago3

Middle Triassic

Fossils found in

Italy, Switzerland, China, Germany, and the USA (Nevada)1 2

Food

Meat1 2

Length

0.73 to 2 m1

largest specimens over 2 m

Weight

2.2 kg to 5.7 kg1

Artist's life restoration of Mixosaurus — How Mixosaurus may have looked, by SpinoDragon145. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Scientists still argue about colours and details.

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

Mixosaurus is called 'Mixed Lizard' because it had features of both early eel-shaped ichthyosaurs and later dolphin-shaped ichthyosaurs.1

Its front limbs were longer than its back limbs, which is a trait of later ichthyosaurs.1

Mixosaurus had about 50 vertebrae in front of its hips, twice as many as land reptiles.1

The species Mixosaurus cornalianus is the only Triassic ichthyosaur known from completely articulated skeletons.1

Mixosaurus had a sagittal crest on its skull, which means it had very strong jaw muscles.1

Scientists think Mixosaurus lived near the shore because its bones were more spongy and compact than those of other ichthyosaurs.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Mixosaurus
Named by: Baur 18873
Group: Ichthyosaurs
Family / clade: Mixosauridae3
Classification: Ichthyosauria > Ichthyosauromorpha3
Age of the rocks: 247 to 237 million years ()3
Rock formations: Favret, Besano, Guanling3
Countries: Switzerland, USA, China, Germany, Italy3
Fossil records: 13 in the Paleobiology Database3
Also known as: Sangiorgiosaurus (older names now counted as the same animal)3
Discovery: Mixosaurus was named in 1887 by George H. Baur. He noticed its forefin was different from other ichthyosaurs, so he gave it a new genus name.1
Still debated: Scientists debate whether some species, like Mixosaurus panxianensis, belong in Mixosaurus or in their own genus Barracudasauroides.1

Where the facts come from

Mixosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Mixosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.