Shastasaurus pacificus
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Shastasaurus Temporal range: Middle-Late Triassic |
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| Partial skull of Shastasaurus pacificus (UCMP 9017) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | †Ichthyosauria |
| Node: | †Merriamosauria |
| Infraorder: | †Shastasauria |
| Family: |
†Shastasauridae Merriam, 1895 |
| Genus: |
†Shastasaurus Merriam, 1895 |
| Type species | |
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†Shastasaurus pacificus Merriam, 1895 |
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| Species | |
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†S. pacificus |
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| Synonyms | |
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†S. pacificus
Merriam, 1895
†?S. liangae
(Yin et al., 2000 [originally Guanlingsaurus])
†?S. sikanniensis
(Nicholls & Manabe, 2004 [originally Shonisaurus])
Shastasaurus ("Mt. Shasta lizard") is an extinct genus of ichthyosaur from the middle and late Triassic, and is the largest marine reptile that has yet been found. Specimens have been reported from the United States, Canada, and China.
Shastasaurus lived during the late Triassic period. The type species Shastasaurus pacificus is known from California. A second possible species of Shastasaurus, S. sikanniensis, is known from the Pardonet Formation British Columbia, dating to the middle Norian age (about 210 million years ago). If S. sikkanniensis belongs to Shastasaurus, it would be the largest species, measuring up to 21 metres (69 ft).
Shastasaurus was highly specialized, and differed considerably from other ichthyosaurs. It was very slender in profile. The largest specimens had a ribcage slightly less than 2 metres (6.6 ft) deep despite a distance of over 7 metres (23 ft) between its flippers. Due to its unusually short, toothless snout (compared to the long, toothed, dolphin-like snouts of most ichthyosaurs) it was proposed that Shastasaurus was thought to be a suction feeder, feeding primarily on soft-bodied cephalopods although current research indicates ichthyosaur jaws do not fit the suction-feeding profile.
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Wikipedia