#sclerocormus

[ancientmarinereptiles]

Sclerocormus parviceps

Art by: Nikolay Zverkov, NGZver, https://www.deviantart.com/ngzver/art/Sclerocormus-parviceps-610907243

Name: Sclerocormus parviceps

Name Meaning: Stiff trunk

First Described: 2016

Described By: Jiang et al.,

Classification: Chordata, Tetrapoda, Reptilia, ‬Ichthyosauromorpha,‭ ‬Ichthyosauriformes

Sclerocormus was discovered in China’s Anhui Province, with a single specimen that was mostly complete. The discovery helped paleontologists try to piece together and understand ichthyosaurs and their evolution, especially early evolutionary history. This strange and weird ‬ichthyosauriform dates all the way back to the Early Triassic. I say that this animal is weird, strange, and odd because it had a stout body, very short skull, and a very long tail. Plus, it had no teeth which could suggest that it was probably a filter feeder. In addition, it most likely dwelled in shallow seas and wasn’t an inhabitant of deeper seas.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sclerocormus

[artbyconnorross]

bA piece I did recently as an homage to a much older one. The centerpiece of my drawing is an early relative of the ichthyosaurs, known as Sclerocormus. In a blogpost by Mark Witton, Witton notes that art often imitates life, and that these seemingly outdated images of ichthyosaurs, as erroneous as depicting a dolphin dragging itself across the beach, have been redeemed in a way. The description of Cartorhynchus in 2014 and then Sclerocormus two years later would show that these "proto-ichthyosaurs" were aquatic yet still capable of some terrestrial locomotion; think of sea lions as an example.

They almost would have resembled some of the very first pictures of ichthyosaurs ever made. I've always been fond of vintage palaeoart like this, so I paid homage to this piece by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins (probably one of the best names in history). The inquiring plesiosaurs and the crocodile in Hawkins's piece have been replaced with contemporary pachypleurosaurs, belonging to the genus Majiashanosaurus. The mass washed up on the beach here is a piece of driftwood with crinoids attached; it appears that in the Early Triassic, one would’ve found this a common sight in the seas of China. Attached to floating logs, crinoids could’ve grown to 35ft long, filter feeding on plankton passing by. These would have been the whales of their era. Unfortunately I could not replicate the flock of pterosaurs from the original - as this is the Early Triassic, there are no known flying vertebrates, the sharovipterygids are from a dozen million years later and aren’t known from China, and the largest animals flying at this time would have been dragonflies and giant lacewings, neither of which fancy the ocean much.

Sometime I'd like to recreate this image as accurately as possible again, but with paints like the original.

Getting the head shape right took way too long as I am much too used to dinosaurs. 

[alphynix]

Sclerocormus parviceps, an unusual ichthyosauriform from the Early Triassic of China (~248 mya).

Its short toothless snout suggests it was a suction feeder, using water pressure differences to pull small soft-bodied prey straight into its mouth like a syringe.  Along with a heavily built body similar to those of hupehsuchians, and a very long tail that made up over half of its 1.6m length (5′3″), it was probably a fairly slow swimmer living in shallow coastal waters.

It was a close relative of Cartorhynchus, and may have been similarly capable of hauling itself onto land like a modern pinniped.