Sveltonectes
| Sveltonectes | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | †Ichthyosauria |
| Family: | †Ophthalmosauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Platypterygiinae |
| Genus: | †Sveltonectes Fischer et al., 2011 |
| Species: | †S. insolitus
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| Binomial name | |
| †Sveltonectes insolitus Fischer et al., 2011
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Sveltonectes (meaning "agile swimmer" in Greek) is an
History of discovery
Sveltonectes is known from the
Sveltonectes was named by Valentin Fischer, Edwige Masure, Maxim S. Arkhangelsky, and
Description
Like some other ophthalmosaurids, Sveltonectes has a projection on the nasal bone of the skull into the naris, a prefrontal forming part of the margin of the naris and a frontal forming part of the margin of the supratemporal fenestra. Sveltonectes is unique in that it has small, sharp teeth and numerous other peculiar features such as a very primitive prootic. The distinctive shape of these teeth suggest that it had a different feeding habit than other cretaceous ophthalmosaurids. Within the Ophthalmosauridae, Sveltonectes is most closely related to Aegirosaurus.[1]
Phylogeny
The following cladogram shows a possible phylogenetic position of Sveltonectes in Ophthalmosauridae according to the analysis performed by Zverkov and Jacobs (2020).[3]
Ophthalmosauria
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See also
- List of ichthyosaurs
- Timeline of ichthyosaur research