Stratum.black
Temnodontosaurus — Temnodontosaurus
Temnodontosaurus — Creator: Dmitry Bogdanov, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

Marine reptile

Temnodontosaurus

Giant ichthyosaur

Temnodontosaurus is the 9–10 m Early Jurassic ichthyosaur with the largest eyes of any vertebrate, found at Lyme Regis (the first ichthyosaur, found by the Annings in 1811) and at Holzmaden. Its large conical teeth, vertebrae and the famous skulls are the material in trade; a complete skull from Lyme or Holzmaden is a museum-grade object. Skulls are often extensively restored across the slab split.

PhylumChordata
ClassReptilia
OrderIchthyosauria
FamilyTemnodontosauridae
GroupMarine reptile
Rank (PBDB)genus· Paleobiology Database
AuthorLydekker 1889· Paleobiology Database
Classification (PBDB)Chordata › Reptilia › Ichthyosauria › NO_FAMILY_SPECIFIED· Paleobiology Database
Range (PBDB)201–175 Ma· Paleobiology Database
PBDB occurrences16· Paleobiology Database

Photographs

Temnodontosaurus — Temnodontosaurus eurycephalus McGowan, 1974, Holotype (NHMUK PV R 1157)
Temnodontosaurus eurycephalus McGowan, 1974, Holotype (NHMUK PV R 1157) — © The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum (London) Data Portal, CC BY 4.0
Temnodontosaurus — Temnodontosaurus platyodon (Conybeare, 1822), Holotype (NHMUK PV R 1158)
Temnodontosaurus platyodon (Conybeare, 1822), Holotype (NHMUK PV R 1158) — © The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum (London) Data Portal, CC BY 4.0
Temnodontosaurus — Temnodontosaurus platyodon (Conybeare, 1822) (NHMUK PV R 1159)
Temnodontosaurus platyodon (Conybeare, 1822) (NHMUK PV R 1159) — © The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum (London) Data Portal, CC BY 4.0

Age

Formations

Elsewhere

Cite this article

Stratum Study. "Temnodontosaurus" (Taxon). Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-19. https://stratum.black/study/taxa/temnodontosaurus. Accessed 2026-09-20.

BibTeX · CSL-JSON

@misc{stratum-temnodontosaurus,
  title        = {Temnodontosaurus},
  author       = {{Stratum Study}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/study/taxa/temnodontosaurus}},
  year         = {2026},
  note         = {Taxon article, Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-19; sources: stratum, pbdb, wikidata, commons, nhm. Accessed 2026-09-20.}
}

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