''Magnipterygius'' is an extinct genus of primitive

ichthyosaur Ichthyosaurs (Ancient Greek for "fish lizard" – and ) are large extinct marine reptiles. Ichthyosaurs belong to the order known as Ichthyosauria or Ichthyopterygia ('fish flippers' – a designation introduced by Sir Richard Owen in 1842, altho ...

found in the Early Jurassic (Lower

Toarcian The Toarcian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, an age and stage in the Early or Lower Jurassic. It spans the time between 182.7 Ma (million years ago) and 174.1 Ma. It follows the Pliensbachian and is followed by the Aalenian. The Toarcian ...

)

Posidonia Shale The Posidonia Shale (german: Posidonienschiefer, also called Schistes Bitumineux in Luxembourg) geologically known as the Sachrang Formation, is an Early Jurassic (Toarcian) geological formation of southwestern and northeast Germany, northern Swit ...

Dotternhausen Dotternhausen is a municipality in the Zollernalbkreis district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. History Dotternhausen became a possession of the Kingdom of Württemberg in 1805 and was assigned to . In 1810, it was reassigned to and then to in ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

specimen is SMNS96922, a nearly complete articulated skeleton. This genus is well known as a small-sized Ichthyosaur, of around 120 cm length, making it the second genus of that size after the Triassic. Due to the similarities with the genus ''

Stenopterygius ''Stenopterygius'' is an extinct genus of thunnosaur ichthyosaur known from Europe (England, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland). This genus of ichthyosaur was about long and weighed .Huene F. von 1939. Ein ganzes Ichthyosaurier-Skelett ...

'' it has been classified as a member of the family Stenopterygiidae.

Discovery and naming

The holotype specimen was uncovered in 2011 in the quarry of Holcim,

, with the consent of the

State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart The State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart (german: Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart), abbreviated SMNS, is one of the two state of Baden-Württemberg's natural history museums. Together with the State Museum of Natural History ...

. It was recovered all except the tail, left in a block in situ. The preparation was done with air abrasive, using chemically clean iron power at low pressure. During the examination the specimen was found to represent a completely new genus of Ichthyosaur, and was named ''Magnipterygius huenei'', with the genus name being a reference to the Warcraft videogame franchise, specifically to the dwarven king Magni Bronzebeard, while the species honors Friedrich Freiherr von Huene and his dedication to the study of the

fauna.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q111167841 Early Jurassic ichthyosaurs Ichthyosaurs of Europe Toarcian life Jurassic Germany Fossils of Germany Posidonia Shale Fossil taxa described in 2022