Nannopterygius
Nannopterygius was a small, fast-swimming marine reptile that lived in the Jurassic seas. It had tiny flippers and a long, streamlined body like a torpedo. It used its big eyes to spot fish and squid in the dim water.1
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as long as 4 dogs nose to tail🍌as long as 19 bananas end to end🏊could swim the length of a big swimming pool (50 m) in 3.8 secondsHow big was Nannopterygius compared to YOU?
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Fun facts
Nannopterygius had very small flippers, only 25 to 30 centimeters (10 to 12 inches) long for the front ones and 10 to 15 centimeters (4 to 6 inches) for the back ones.1
Its name means 'small wing' in Greek, because its flippers were so tiny compared to other ichthyosaurs.1
It had a long tail that made up about 1 meter (3.3 feet) of its total length, with a deeply forked fin.1
Nannopterygius had at least 60 disc-shaped vertebrae, making its body flexible and agile.1
Its eyes were large and had a bony ring inside the socket, which helped it see in dark water.1
Because its flippers were so small, Nannopterygius was not good at long-distance swimming but could sprint quickly over short distances.1
The first fossil of Nannopterygius was found in Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset, England, and was named Ichthyosaurus enthekiodon in 1871.1
Most asked questions about Nannopterygius
?How big was Nannopterygius?
It was small for an ichthyosaur, measuring up to 3.5 metres (11 feet) long.1
?What did Nannopterygius eat?
It probably ate fish and squid. It was likely an ambush predator that quickly plunged into shoals of fish in shallow seas.1
?Is Nannopterygius a dinosaur?
No, it is not a dinosaur. It is an extinct marine reptile called an ichthyosaur.1
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Nannopterygius
- Named by
- Huene 19232
- Group
- Ichthyosaurs
- Family / clade
- Ophthalmosauridae2
- Classification
- Ichthyosauria > Ichthyosauromorpha2
- Age of the rocks
- 155 to 143 million years (Kimmeridgian / Tithonian)2
- Rock formations
- Kimmeridge Clay2
- Countries
- Russia, United Kingdom2
- Fossil records
- 3 in the Paleobiology Database2
- Discovery
- The first Nannopterygius fossil was found in Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset, England, and described by J. W. Hulke in 1871 as Ichthyosaurus enthekiodon. In 1922, Friedrich von Huene gave it its own genus name Nannopterygius because of its small flippers.1
Where the facts come from
- Nannopterygius (en.wikipedia.org)
- Nannopterygius in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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