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Family: Delphisauridae; The last ichthyosaurs.
Topic Started: Jan 5 2014, 05:25 PM (86 Views)
the dark phoenix
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the dark phoenix of wonderland
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This topic will be edited. what is here now may be different later.

Scientific Name: Orcasaurus rex
Meaning: Orca lizard king
Common name: Black sea lizard
Lifespan: 80 to 100 years
Age: Barremian-Turonian
Diet: fish, other sea reptiles, turtles, sharks, rays, cephalopods, anything that it sees as food.
Location: Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans
Habitat: coastal to pelagic
Description: looks like Platypterygius but the mouth is short and rounded like a Orca. The pacific animals are navy blue with white Orca patterns while Atlantic animals are black instead of blue and Indian animals look like Atlantic animals but with dark red dorsal fin and front flippers. Vocals vary depending on location. They are 35 ft long and and 9 ft tall at the dorsal fin.
Notes: One of three ichthyosaur species to survive into the Cretaceous and the largest of the last.
Behavior: Playful and almost innocent. They have been known to pick up shellfish, crabs, and plants to give as gifts to other members of the pod or to just use as toys. All pod members look after the young. Behaviors convergent with our world's Orcas.
Breeding Behavior: They migrate to shallow bays and lagoons to mate then they stay near the coast while pregnant then they return to the lagoon to give birth. This is the easiest time to see them if a boat is not at hand.

more added to this page soon.
Edited by the dark phoenix, Nov 22 2014, 04:04 AM.
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DK1000
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Regarding the hindlimbs, I read something earlier today that nearly every animal that swims by moving their tails horizontally
retains the pelvic fins (hindlimbs in tetrapods). I don't know the exact mechanics behind it, but they're evidently important for swimming with a side-to-side motion, just look at sharks, they've been perfecting themselves for swimming for 420 million years and they still have their pelvic fins. Only animals that swim by moving their tails up and down seem capable of losing their hindlimbs, so it looks ichthyosaurs would always hindlimbs, unless they were to somehow completely retcon the shape of their tails.
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the dark phoenix
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the dark phoenix of wonderland
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Fixed
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the dark phoenix
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the dark phoenix of wonderland
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The O. Rex's grandfather....


Scientific Name: Orcasaurus Benii
Meaning: Ben's Orca lizard
Common name: Paleo black sea lizard
Lifespan: 75 to 80 years
Age: Berriasian-Hauterivian
Diet: fish, other sea reptiles, turtles, sharks, rays, cephalopods, anything that it sees as food.
Location: Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans
Habitat: coastal
Description: looks like Platypterygius but the mouth is rounded like a orca, not as short as its later descendent. They are all black with dark grey eye patches and navy blue front and back flippers. Vocals vary depending on location. They are 25 ft long and and 8 ft tall at the dorsal fin.
Notes: As mosasaurs and dolphins are absent this animal has taken the niche of top predator of the seas. They live alone, in pairs, or in pods.
Behavior: Convergent with our world's Orcas. They are the first ichthyosaur to master spy hopping.
Breeding Behavior: During the winter months depending on location, Animals scatter and form mating pairs making a new pod via reproduction.
Edited by the dark phoenix, Nov 22 2014, 04:08 AM.
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the dark phoenix
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Scientific Name: Delphisaurus pelagos and Delphisaurus aigialos,
Meaning: Womb lizard of the open sea and womb lizard of the coast
Common name: Ind-pacific Dolphinotile and Atlantic Dolphinotile
Lifespan: 80 to 90 years
Age: Hauterivian-Turonian
Diet: fish, cephalopods, Crustaceans
Location: Indian and pacific oceans(D. pelagos) Atlantic Ocean(D. aigialos)
Habitat: Open sea and coastal (D. pelagos) Coastal (D. aigialos)
Description: They all look like Platypterygius but the mouth is rounded at the tip.
D. pelagos is Dark blue with a grey line running down its side and Flippers are black. It is 9 ft long. and 4 ft tall including the dorsal fin
D. aigialos is light grey with a light brown line running down its side. It also has a dark brown patch over each eye. Its flippers are also dark brown. It is 5 ft long and 3 ft tall including the dorsal fin.
Notes: With Orcasaurus being the last of the large ichthyosaurs, these two form the rest of what is left of ichthyosaur diversity.
Behavior:
D. pelagos is a social species, forming pods of up to 15 animals. They are very intelligent and are capable of forming bait balls by blowing bubbles and producing special sounds to stun what ever flees.
D. aigialos is a coastal species that lives on the coasts of Africa, South America, and North America. They are shy animals and usually stay away from each other until mating season.
Breeding Behavior: They both seem to have breeding behavior similar to dolphins. Males give gifts to females and they both swim together for a while until they mate.
Edited by the dark phoenix, Nov 22 2014, 04:12 AM.
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