Genus
Valid Extinct

Acuetzpalin

Barrientos-Lara and Alvarado-Ortega 2020

Acuetzpalin is an extinct genus of platypterygiine ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur found in the Kimmeridgian La Casita Formation in Mexico. It is known from a partial skeleton, of which the skull is surprisingly well preserved. Its length is estimated to have been more than 3.1 metres (10 ft) long, considering the missing parts of the holotype. It was the first ichthyosaur described in 2020 and the first new ichthyosaur genus described since 2017.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
1
Group
Ichtyosaures
Carnivore nektonic Marine
Classification
Ichthyosauria Unranked clade
Baracromia Unranked clade
Ophthalmosauridae Family
Platypterygiinae Subfamily
Acuetzpalin Genus
Fossil sites 1 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇲🇽 Mexico
1
Geological formations
La Casita
1
Temporal distribution
Kimmeridgian (154.8–149.2 Ma)
1
Species (1)
Acuetzpalin carranzai 155 Ma
Bibliography
Original description
J. I. Barrientos-Lara and J. Alvarado-Ortega. 2020. Acuetzpalin carranzai gen et sp. nov. A new ophthalmosauridae (Ichthyosauria) from the Upper Jurassic of Durango, North Mexico. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 98:102456-102456 DOI ↗
Bibliography (1)
J. I. Barrientos-Lara and J. Alvarado-Ortega. 2020. Acuetzpalin carranzai gen et sp. nov. A new ophthalmosauridae (Ichthyosauria) from the Upper Jurassic of Durango, North Mexico. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 98:102456-102456 DOI ↗