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| Gadusaurus aqualigneus Sousa, Roldão, Ríos & Puértolas-Pascual, 2025 |
Ichthyosaurs were a group of marine Mesozoic reptiles. Their presence in the Portuguese fossil record is scarce and ranges from the Sinemurian to the Toarcian. In this work we describe a new specimen—a nearly complete skull discovered in the Sinemurian of Praia de Água de Madeiros, São Pedro de Moel, Municipality of Marinha Grande (Portugal). This specimen represents the most complete and best preserved cranial remains from the Iberian Peninsula published to date. Phylogenetic analyses performed identified this specimen as a new genus and species, Gadusarus aqualigneus, the first to be identified in the Iberian Peninsula. The species is phylogenetically recovered as a baracromian ichthyosaur, part of the Neoichthyosauria and Parvipelvia clades.
Key words: Parvipelvia, Ichthyosauria, Gadusaurus aqualigneus , phylogeny, Sinemurian, São Pedro de Moel.
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| Ichthyosaur reptile Gadusaurus aqualigneus gen. et sp. nov. (ML 2750) from from the Lower Jurassic of São Pedro de Moel (Marinha Grande, Portugal). Nearly complete skull in laterodorsal view. |
Ichthyopterygia Owen, 1859
Ichthyosauria Blainville, 1835
Parvipelvia Motani, 1999
Neoichthyosauria Sander, 2000
Thunnosauria Motani, 1999
Baracromia Fischer et al., 2013
Genus Gadusaurus nov.
Type species: Gadusaurus aqualigneus sp. nov.
Etymology: From combination of Latin gadu, codfish, and Ancient Greek, sauros, lizard; in reference to both the ichthyosaur fish-like body shape, and the proclivity for codfish in Portuguese cuisine.
Gadusaurus aqualigneus sp. nov.
Etymology: From Latin aqua, water and lignum, wood; in reference to Água de Madeiros, which roughly translates to “water of woods”, the beach where the specimen was found.
Holotype: ML 2750, nearly complete skull (Fig. 2), in a flattened state, the right side fully observable in lateral view, and elements of the left side observable in dorsal view.
Type locality: Praia de Água de Madeiros, São Pedro de Moel, Municipality of Marinha Grande, (Portugal).
Diagnosis.—Small-sized ichthyosaur, with an estimated length of approximately 2 m, diagnosed by the following combination of ambiguous synapomorphies: absence of a supranarial process in the premaxilla; and the parietal foramen being entirely surrounded by the frontals. Gadusaurus aqualigneus gen. et sp. nov. is also characterized by the following potential autapomorphies within Parvipelvia: presence of a subcircular depression in the lacrimal just below the posterior region of the external naris (Fig. 3C); big and well-developed elliptical internasal foramen with about 5 times bigger surface area than that of the parietal foramen (Fig. 3A); presence of a well-marked longitudinal groove on each side of the anterolateral region of the excavatio internasalis (Fig 3B).
João Pratas E Sousa, Isabel Morais Roldão, María Ríos, and Eduardo Puértolas-Pascual. 2025. A New ichthyosaur from the Lower Jurassic of Portugal (Iberian Peninsula). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 70(1); 179-192. DOI: doi.org/10.4202/app.01199.2024
