Gengasaurus is an extinct genus of ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur from the Jurassic. The type and only species, Gengasaurus nicosiai, was named in 2017, after the locality of Genga, Marche.[1] It lived in Italy about 152 million years ago.[2]
| Gengasaurus Temporal range: Late Jurassic,
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | †Ichthyosauria |
| Family: | †Ophthalmosauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Ophthalmosaurinae |
| Genus: | †Gengasaurus Parapella et al., 2017 |
| Species: | †G. nicosiai
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| Binomial name | |
| †Gengasaurus nicosiai Parapella et al., 2017
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History edit
The near complete holotype was discovered in 1976 in the Late Jurassic (Tithonian) Calcari ad aptici e Saccocoma Formation at Camponocecchio and it was described in 1980[3] and 2000[4] as the "Genga ichthyosaur" before it was named and described in 2016[5][2] - this paper was eventually published in 2017.[1] The holotype is now housed at the Spaelaeo-Palaeontologic Museum in Genga.
Phylogeny edit
The following cladogram shows a possible phylogenetic position of Gengasaurus in Ophthalmosauridae according to the analysis performed by Zverkov and Jacobs (2020).[6]
References edit
- ^ a b Ilaria Paparella; Erin E. Maxwell; Angelo Cipriani; Scilla Roncacè; Michael W. Caldwell (2017). "The first ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur from the Upper Jurassic of the Umbrian–Marchean Apennines (Marche, Central Italy)". Geological Magazine. 154 (4): 837–858. Bibcode:2017GeoM..154..837P. doi:10.1017/S0016756816000455. S2CID 132955874.
- ^ a b "Paleo Profile: The Genga Lizard". Scientific American. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
- ^ Fastelli, C. & Nicosia, U. (1980). L'Ittiosauro di Genga (Ancona). In I vertebrati fossili italiani (eds Parisi, G. & Seppi, G.), pp. 95–101. Verona: Catalogo della Mostra.
- ^ De Marinis, G. & Nicosia, U. (2000). L'Ittiosauro di Genga. Castelferretti, Ancona: Cassa di Risparmio di Fabriano e Cupramontana Edizioni, 220 pp.
- ^ Ilaria Paparella, Erin E. Maxwell, Angelo Cipriani, Scilla Roncacè and Michael W. Caldwell (2016) - The first ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur from the Upper Jurassic of the Umbrian–Marchean Apennines (Marche, Central Italy). Geological Magazine (advance online publication)
- ^ Nikolay G. Zverkov & Megan L. Jacobs (2021) [2020]. "Revision of Nannopterygius (Ichthyosauria: Ophthalmosauridae): reappraisal of the 'inaccessible' holotype resolves a taxonomic tangle and reveals an obscure ophthalmosaurid lineage with a wide distribution". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 191 (1): 228–275. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa028.
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