''Malawania'' 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 thunnosaur

ichthyosaur Ichthyosauria is an order of large extinct marine reptiles sometimes referred to as "ichthyosaurs", although the term is also used for wider clades in which the order resides. Ichthyosaurians thrived during much of the Mesozoic era; based on fo ...

known from the middle

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronology, geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphy, chronostratigraphic name) is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 143.1 ...

(

Hauterivian The Hauterivian is, in the geologic timescale, an age in the Early Cretaceous Epoch or a stage in the Lower Cretaceous Series. It spans the time between 132.6 ± 2 Ma and 125.77 (million years ago). The Hauterivian is preceded by the Valangi ...

Barremian The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale (or a chronostratigraphic stage) between 125.77 Ma (million years ago) and 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma (Historically, this stage was placed at 129.4 million to approximately 125 million years ago) It is a ...

stage) of

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf 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 ''Malawania anachronus'' and it was named by Valentin Fischer, Robert M. Appleby,

Darren Naish Darren William Naish (born 26 September 1975) is a British vertebrate palaeontologist, author and science communicator. As a researcher, he is best known for his work describing and reevaluating dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles, including ...

, Jeff Liston, Riding, J. B., Brindley, S. and Pascal Godefroit 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 ...

based on specimen NHMUK PV R 6682. It is unusual as it is much more primitive than other Cretaceous ichthyosaurs, being most closely related to '' Ichthyosaurus'' from the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic, over 70 million years earlier than ''Malawania'', with all other known ichthyosaurs from the

Late Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third Epoch (geology), epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time scale, geologic time from 161.5 ± 1.0 to 143.1 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic stratum, strata.Owen ...

onwards belonging to the family Ophthalmosauridae.

Discovery

The holotype and only known specimen was discovered in 1952 by British petroleum geologists D. M. Morton, F. R. S. Henson, R. J. Wetzel and L. C. F. Damesin while working in Chia Gara, Amadia in

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan () refers to the Kurds, Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of Greater Kurdistan in West Asia, which also includes parts of southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdist ...

. The slab was being used to dam a small river and was part of a mule track. It was then transported back to the UK and donated to the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

in 1959. Robert M. Appleby would study the specimen for many years until his death in 2004, but never published a paper, one manuscript submitted to ''

Paleontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure ge ...

'' in 1979 was rejected due to the uncertain provenance of the specimen. The specimen was formally described in 2013 by Fischer and colleagues. Using

palynology Palynology is the study of microorganisms and microscopic fragments of mega-organisms that are composed of acid-resistant organic material and occur in sediments, sedimentary rocks, and even some metasedimentary rocks. Palynomorphs are the mic ...

it was determined that the rocks surrounding the specimen were Hauterivian-Barremian in age, which was unexpected given the archaic nature of the specimen.

Description

Each lacrimal (paired bones at the front edges of the

orbits In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an physical body, object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an satellite, artificia ...

) bears a hollow towards its front edge. Fischer and colleagues speculated that these may have been the location of the

lacrimal glands The lacrimal glands are paired exocrine glands, one for each eye, found in most terrestrial vertebrates and some marine mammals, that secrete the aqueous layer of the tear film. In humans, they are situated in the upper lateral region of each orb ...

(which produce the

tear film Tear, tears or tearing may refer to: * Tearing, the act of breaking apart a material by force * Tears, a clear liquid secreted by the tear gland in the eyes of land mammals Arts and entertainment Literature * "Tears", a poem by Edward Thomas ...

). The long, backwards projecting processes of the lacrimals extend halfway underneath the orbits (eye sockets). The eyeballs were supported by rings of 13 bones, known as sclerotic rings. ''Malawania'' has a minimum of five neck vertebrae. While the boundary between them is still demarcated, the first two vertebrae are fused. All of the known

centra Centra is a convenience shop chain that operates throughout Ireland. The chain operates as a symbol group owned by Musgrave Group, the food wholesaler, meaning the individual shops are all owned by individual franchisees. The chain has three ...

(vertebral bodies) are the same length, save for the

first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

, which has a length double that of the rest. In some of the trunk vertebrae, the forwards-placed facets for the

rib In vertebrate anatomy, ribs () are the long curved bones which form the rib cage, part of the axial skeleton. In most tetrapods, ribs surround the thoracic cavity, enabling the lungs to expand and thus facilitate breathing by expanding the ...

s flow smoothly together with the edges of the vertebrae. The well-spaced

neural spines Each vertebra (: vertebrae) is an irregular bone with a complex structure composed of bone and some hyaline cartilage, that make up the vertebral column or spine, of vertebrates. The proportions of the vertebrae differ according to their spinal ...

towards the front of the animal have trapezoidal tops, a unique feature of this genus. The cross sections of the ribs are bilobed. Unlike baracromians, the

scapula The scapula (: scapulae or scapulas), also known as the shoulder blade, is the bone that connects the humerus (upper arm bone) with the clavicle (collar bone). Like their connected bones, the scapulae are paired, with each scapula on either side ...

e (shoulder blades) of ''Malawania'' have unemarginated front surfaces. The trapezoid-shaped humeri (upper arm bones) are unusually short, a morphology unique to this genus. The upper end of each humerus bears a backwards-pointing projection known as a capitular process. This trait is also unique to ''Malawania'', with the processes of other ichthyosaurs being semicircular. The humeri do not narrow at their middle, an atypical trait outside of Ophthalmosauridae. The lower ends of the humeri do not broaden significantly, each articulating with two bones, the

radius In classical geometry, a radius (: radii or radiuses) of a circle or sphere is any of the line segments from its Centre (geometry), center to its perimeter, and in more modern usage, it is also their length. The radius of a regular polygon is th ...

and

ulna The ulna or ulnar bone (: ulnae or ulnas) is a long bone in the forearm stretching from the elbow to the wrist. It is on the same side of the forearm as the little finger, running parallel to the Radius (bone), radius, the forearm's other long ...

. These two six-sided bones are elongate and contact each other across the entirety of their inner margins, without an opening between them. With the exception of the quadrangular radiales ( carpals below the radii), most of the hand bones of ''Malawania'' are hexagon-shaped and tightly interlocked, similar to ''

Macgowania ''Macgowania'' is an extinct genus of parvipelvian ichthyosaur known from British Columbia of Canada. It was a small ichthyosaur around in total body length. History of research The first specimen of ''Macgowania'' is the holotype ROM 419 ...

''. The

intermedia Intermedia is an art theory term coined in the mid-1960s by Fluxus artist Dick Higgins to describe the strategies of interdisciplinarity that occur within artworks existing between artistic genres. It was also used by John Brockman to refer to ...

(a pair of wrist bones) approach the size of the radii, distinctive of ''Malawania''. Two digits originate from each intermedium, similar to '' Ichthyosaurus''. There are two other digits in the foreflippers of ''Malawania'' for a total of four. The first digit would have had more than nine

phalanges The phalanges (: phalanx ) are digit (anatomy), digital bones in the hands and foot, feet of most vertebrates. In primates, the Thumb, thumbs and Hallux, big toes have two phalanges while the other Digit (anatomy), digits have three phalanges. ...

(digit bones) when complete, the first of these bearing a notch.

Taxonomy

The name is derived from "

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

‘Malawan’: swimmer and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

ized Greek noun in apposition ‘anachronus’ meaning ‘out of time’."

Phylogeny

''Malawania'' was found to be the

sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

to '' Ichthyosaurus''. 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 Fischer ''et al.'', 2013.

References

Early Cretaceous ichthyosaurs Early Cretaceous reptiles of Asia Natural history of Iraq Fossil taxa described in 2013 Taxa named by Darren Naish Ichthyosauromorph genera {{Ichthyosaur-stub

Discovery

Description

Taxonomy

Phylogeny

See also

References