Ichthyosaur Skeleton Panel Replica measures 60 inches. Ichthyosaur Skeleton Panel is museum quality polyurethane cast. Made in USA. Our precise skeleton can be used as a teaching tool, museum skeleton exhibit, home décor skeleton, or office décor skeleton.
Ichthyosaur is Greek for “fish lizard” are large extinct marine reptiles. Ichthyosaur or Ichthyosauria species varied from one to over sixteen meters in length. They resembled both modern fish and dolphins.
Their limbs had been fully transformed into flippers, which sometimes contained a very large number of digits and phalanges. At least some species possessed a dorsal fin. Their heads were pointed, and the jaws often were equipped with conical teeth that could help to catch smaller prey.
Some Ichthyosaur or Ichthyosauria had larger, bladed teeth with which they could attack large animals. The eyes were very large, probably useful when deep diving. The neck was short, and later species had a rather stiff trunk.
These also had a more vertical tail fin, used for a powerful propulsive stroke. The vertebral column, made of simplified disc-like vertebrae, continued into the lower lobe of the tail fin. Ichthyosaurs or Ichthyosauria were air-breathing, warm-blooded, and bore live young. They may have had a layer of blubber for insulation
They thrived during much of the Mesozoic era; based on fossil evidence, they first appeared around 250 million years ago and at least one species survived until about 90 million years ago, into the Late Cretaceous.
During the early Triassic period, Ichthyosaur or Ichthyosauria evolved from a group of unidentified land reptiles that returned to the sea. Ichthyosaurs were particularly abundant in the later Triassic and early Jurassic periods, until they were replaced as the top aquatic predators by another marine reptilian group, the Plesiosauria, in the later Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
In the Late Cretaceous, Ichthyosaur or Ichthyosauria were hard hit by the Cenomanian-Turonian anoxic event. Their last lineage became extinct for unknown reasons.
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