Grippia - A Triassic Ichthyosaur
Grippia was an ichthyosaur genus of the Triassic period. Fossils of this ichthyosaur and others of its family, i.e. Grippidae, have been found in Greenland, China, Japan, and Canada. This excerpt of Palaeos Vertebrates gives a discussion of Grippia:
Characters: <1m? lacrimal excluded from nares [C97]; relatively large upper temporal fenestra [C97]; postorbital participates in upper temporal fenestra (primitive [C97]; tooth implantation subthecodont [M97]; replacement teeth lingodistal [M97], tooth roots expanded [M97]; dentition; vertebral number & form similar to Utatsusaurus, humerus longer than femur (as in all other ichthyopterygians) [M+98].
Grippia and other basal ichthyosaurs had elongated bodies. They were well adapted for swimming and hunting in shallow water. These ichthyosaurs were small; they were 1 - 1.5 m in length. They lived in the Olenekian (249.7-245 million years ago) and Anisian (245-237 million years ago) ages of the Triassic.
Neal Robbins
P.S. The taxonomy of Grippia is:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Archosauria
Superorder: Ichthyopterygia
Order: Ichthyosauria
Family: Grippidae
Genus: Grippia
The species include:
Grippia longirostris
G. geishanensis
G. hataii
G. microenta
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