Eurhinosaurus
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Eurhinosaurus Temporal range: Early Jurassic, 183–175 Ma |
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| A 6.4 meters (21 feet) Eurhinosaurus specimen | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Order: | †Ichthyosauria |
| Family: | Leptonectidae |
| Genus: |
Eurhinosaurus Abel, 1909 |
| Species | |
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Eurhinosaurus ('well-nosed lizard') is an extinct genus of ichthyosaur from the Early Jurassic (Toarcian) of Europe (England, Germany, Benelux, France & Switzerland). It was a large genus, exceeding 6 m in length.
The cladogram below follows the topology from a 2015 analysis by Marek et al.
Eurhinosaurus
Eurhinosaurus looked like a regular ichthyosaur, with a fish-like body including a dorsal and caudal fin, and large eyes, but had one distinct feature that set it apart from other ichthyosaurs. Its upper jaw was twice as long as the lower jaw and covered with up- and downwards-pointing 'teeth', unlike the sawfish's. It might have been used to search vegetation and crustaceans on the ocean bottom for prey by swinging its upper jaw from side to side against the sea floor like a sawfish, or to violently stab prey to death like swordfish, sailfish and marlins. A Miocene cetacean, Eurhinodelphis, also developed a similar structure.
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