Caypullisaurus

Caypullisaurus is an extinct genus of platypterygiine ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur from the Late Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous (Tithonian and Berriasian stages) of Argentina. Its holotype was collected from the Vaca Muerta Formation of Cerro Lotena, Neuquen, dating to the early Tithonian stage of the Late Jurassic, about 150 million years ago. Caypullisaurus was first named by Marta Fernández in 1997 and the type species is Caypullisaurus bonapartei. It was a large ichthyosaur, measuring about 7 m (23 ft) long.^[1][2] The forelimbs of Caypullisaurus contained 10 digits each.^[3]

Caypullisaurus Temporal range: Tithonian-Berriasian ~150–140.2 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Dakosaurus (right) pursuing a Caypullisaurus (left)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	†Ichthyosauria
Family:	†Ophthalmosauridae
Subfamily:	†Platypterygiinae
Genus:	†Caypullisaurus Fernández, 1997
Species:	†C. bonapartei
Binomial name
†Caypullisaurus bonapartei Fernández, 1997

Classification

It is a member of the family Ophthalmosauridae, and closely related to Platypterygius and Brachypterygius.^[4] In 2012, Caypullisaurus was found to be most closely related to Athabascasaurus and "Platypterygius" australis, and to nest within the subfamily Platypterygiinae.^[5]

Phylogeny

The following cladogram shows a possible phylogenetic position of Caypullisaurus in Ophthalmosauridae according to the analysis performed by Zverkov and Jacobs (2020).^[6]

Ophthalmosauria

Ophthalmosaurinae Acamptonectes densus Mollesaurus periallus Ophthalmosaurus natans Ophthalmosaurus icenicus Gengasaurus nicosiai Nannopterygius yasykovi Nannopterygius enthekiodon Nannopterygius saveljeviensis Nannopterygius borealis Arthropterygius volgensis Arthropterygius lundi Arthropterygius thalassonotus Arthropterygius hoybergeti Arthropterygius chrisorum Platypterygiinae Brachypterygius extremus Aegirosaurus leptospondylus Muiscasaurus catheti Leninia stellans Sveltonectes insolitus Athabascasaurus bitumineus Platypterygius americanus Acuetzpalin carranzai Platypterygius sachicarum Caypullisaurus bonapartei Grendelius mordax Grendelius alekseevi Grendelius pseudoscythicus Grendelius zhuravlevi Undorosaurus kielanae Undorosaurus nessovi Undorosaurus gorodischensis Platypterygius australis Plutoniosaurus bedengensis Simbirskiasaurus birjukovi Platypterygius hercynicus Sisteronia seeleyi Platypterygius platydactylus Maiaspondylus lindoei

See also

• List of ichthyosaurs
• Timeline of ichthyosaur research