Family
Valid Extinct

Utatsusauridae

McGowan and Motani 2003

Utatsusaurus hataii is the earliest-known ichthyopterygian which lived in the Early Triassic period. It was nearly 2.5–3 metres (8.2–9.8 ft) long with a slender body. The first specimen was found in Utatsu-cho, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. It is the only described species in the genus Utatsusaurus and the only member of the family Utatsusauridae. The name Utatsusaurus was given after the city. The fossils have been found from the Early Triassic Osawa Formation of Miyagi Prefecture, Japan and British Columbia, Canada.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
5
Group
Ichtyosaures
Carnivore nektonic Marine
Utatsusauridae
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Fossil of Utatsusaurus- Took the picture at Museo di Storia Naturale, Milano © Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia
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Classification
Ichthyosauria Unranked clade
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Utatsusauridae Family
Fossil sites 5 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇨🇦 Canada
2
🇯🇵 Japan
2
🇺🇸 United States
1
Geological formations
Sulphur Mountain
2
Osawa
1
Prida
1
Temporal distribution
Olenekian (249.9–246.7 Ma)
4
Induan (251.902–249.9 Ma)
1
Images 1
Bibliography
Original description
C. McGowan and R. Motani. 2003. Handbuch der Palaoherpetologie / Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology Teil 8 / Part 8 Ichthyopterygia.
Bibliography (5)
N. P. Kelley, R. Motani, and P. Embree, M. J. Orchard. 2016. A new Lower Triassic ichthyopterygian assemblage from Fossil Hill, Nevada. PeerJ 4(e1626) DOI ↗
R. S. Cuthbertson, A. P. Russell, and J. S. Anderson. 2014. The first substantive evidence of Utatsusaurus (Ichthyopterygia) from the Sulphur Mountain Formation (Lower–Middle Triassic) of British Columbia, Canada: a skull roof description in comparison with other early taxa. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 51(2):180-185 DOI ↗
R. Motani, N. Minoura, and T. Ando. 1998. Ichthyosaurian relationships illuminated by new primitive skeletons from Japan. Nature 393:255-257 DOI ↗
E. L. Nicholls and D. Brinkman. 1993. A new specimen of Utatsusaurus (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria) from the Lower Triassic Sulphur Mountain Formation of British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 30:486-490 DOI ↗
T. Shikama and T. Kamei. 1978. Early Triassic ichthyosaurus, Utatsusaurus hataii gen. et sp. nov, from the Kitakami Massif, northeast Japan. Tohoku University Scientific Report, 2nd series 48(2):77-97