Family
Valid Extinct

Wimaniidae

Maisch 2010

Wimanius is a genus of ichthyosaur from the Middle Triassic of Switzerland, containing a single species, Wimanius odontopalatus. It was described by Michael Maisch and Andreas Matzke in 1998 based on an incomplete skull from Monte San Giorgio, a mountain on the Swiss-Italian border. Wimanius possesses teeth on its palate, though whether they were located on the palatine or pterygoid is disputed. Other features of Wimanius include a large orbit and jugals with two rami of similar lengths. Different phylogenetic placements of Wimanius have been recovered by different studies, including it being a mixosaurid relative or a merriamosaur, and a monotypic family, Wimaniidae has been named for it. However, its validity has also been questioned, and synonymy with various other genera has been proposed. The only specimen of Wimanius come from the Besano Formation. During the Anisian, this region was a lagoon populated by a wide variety of marine life, including a variety of other ichthyosaurs.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
1
Group
Ichtyosaures
Carnivore nektonic Marine
Wimaniidae
click to enlarge
Figure description from paper: "Fig. 3 Wimanius odontopalatus Maisch & Matzke, 1998, holotype, GPIT-PV-76272. Photos courtesy of G. Bindellini (Milano). a The complete holotype. b Detail showing a part of the dentition. c Disarticulated bones from the posterior part of the skull © Gabriele Bindellini · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Ichthyosauria Unranked clade
Mixosauria Suborder
Wimaniidae Family
Fossil sites 1 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇨🇭 Switzerland
1
Geological formations
Monte San Giorgio bituminous shales
1
Temporal distribution
Anisian (246.7–241.464 Ma)
1
Images 1
Bibliography
Original description
M. W. Maisch. 2010. Phylogeny, systematics, and origin of the Ichthyosauria - the state of the art. Palaeodiversity 3:151-214
Bibliography (1)
R. Motani. 1999. Phylogeny of the Ichthyopterygia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 19(3):473-496 DOI ↗