Explore this animal in Size of Extinct Animals ↗
289 / Mesozoic
Cymbospondylus
Cymbospondylus youngorum
Only a few million years after the great extinction, ichthyosaurs had already reached whale-like scale.
View original image · 1536 × 1024- Time range
- About 247 million years ago
- Final stage
- Middle Triassic
- Geographic range
- Eastern Panthalassa · Nevada, USA
01 / DEFINITION & ECOLOGY
What was Cymbospondylus?
Cymbospondylus (Cymbospondylus youngorum) was an extinct organism known from About 247 million years ago, with a range in Eastern Panthalassa · Nevada, USA.
Life and ecology
Cymbospondylus youngorum was an early giant ichthyosaur with a long skull and conical teeth, feeding on fish and cephalopods in productive seas.
02 / DISAPPEARANCE
Why did Cymbospondylus disappear?
Rapid Middle Triassic turnover among marine reptiles and ichthyosaurs is the broad context; it does not by itself determine why this early giant disappeared.
03 / EVIDENCE
How do scientists know about Cymbospondylus?
The Nevada skull, vertebrae and girdle provide size estimates; ammonites and food-web models explain rapid gigantism.
04 / SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Check the source record
Use the scientific name to compare taxonomy, occurrence records and the fossil record. Database coverage and classifications may differ.
05 / REVISION HISTORY
How has this record changed?
- Rewrote an extinction cause that presented environmental or faunal turnover as established; it is now given as context the record does not prove.
- Verified authoritative entity sources and added three responsive reconstruction sizes.
- Initial bilingual species record published.
06 / CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS