''Gulosaurus'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of basal grippidian

ichthyopterygia Ichthyopterygia ("fish flippers") was a designation introduced by Richard Owen, Sir Richard Owen in 1840 to designate the Jurassic ichthyosaurs that were known at the time, but the term is now used more often for both true Ichthyosauria and their ...

n known from the

Early Triassic The Early Triassic is the first of three epochs of the Triassic Period of the geologic timescale. It spans the time between 251.9 Ma and Ma (million years ago). Rocks from this epoch are collectively known as the Lower Triassic Series, which ...

Vega-Phroso Siltstone Member of the Sulphur Mountain Formation of east-central

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. ''Gulosaurus'' was first named by Robin S. Cuthbertson, Anthony P. Russell and Jason S. Anderson in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

is ''Gulosaurus helmi''. The name means 'Helm's

wolverine The wolverine ( , ; ''Gulo gulo''), also called the carcajou or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species, member of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal. The w ...

lizard' and refers to the Wolverine Nordic and Mountain Society, who maintain the area around Wapiti Lake where it was found, and to Dr Charles Helm, who is a leading paleontologist around this same area. Originally ''Gulosaurus'' was thought to be either '' Grippia longirostris'' or '' Parvinatator wapitiensis,'' but as the fossil was incomplete it was uncertain which. In 2013, the other half of the fossil, including its skull, was discovered and this proved it to be a new species entirely, closely related to ''Grippia'' and very similar.

Features

Overall, ''Gulosaurus'' was similar to ''Grippia.'' It was the same size, around 1.5 meters long, and much of the skeleton was the same, namely the ribs and centrum discovered. Also like ''Grippia'', it had pentadactyl limbs rather than exhibiting polyphalangy, as many later ichthyopterygians did. Most of the flipper structure was very similar apart from the first metacarpal, which had a notched peripheral shaft in ''Gulosaurus'' but was lunate in ''Grippia.'' The skull of ''Gulosaurus'' was also very different to that of ''Grippia'' - it had cylindrical anterior teeth, although as no ''Grippia'' snouts have been discovered, it remains unknown if this was different. The skull also exhibited

postfrontal The postfrontal is a paired cranial bone found in many tetrapods. It occupies an area of the skull roof between and behind the orbits (eye sockets), lateral to the frontal and parietal bones, and anterior to the postorbital bone. The postfrontal ...

-frontal contact at the

rostral Rostral may refer to: Anatomy * Rostral (anatomical term), situated toward the oral or nasal region * Rostral bone, in ceratopsian dinosaurs * Rostral organ, of certain fish * Rostral scale The rostral scale, or rostral, in snakes and other sca ...

limit of the

anterior Standard anatomical terms of location are used to describe unambiguously the anatomy of humans and other animals. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position pro ...

margin of the

supratemporal The supratemporal bone is a paired Skull, cranial bone present in many Tetrapod, tetrapods and Tetrapodomorpha, tetrapodomorph fish. It is part of the temporal region (the portion of the skull roof behind the eyes), usually lying medial (inwards) re ...

terrace.

Phylogeny

Below is a

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...

modified from Cuthbertson ''et al.'', 2013.

References

Ichthyosauriformes Fossil taxa described in 2013 Fossils of British Columbia Early Triassic reptiles of North America Ichthyosauromorph genera {{Ichthyosaur-stub

Features

Phylogeny

See also

References