page_title: Temnodontosaurus
section_title: Feeding mechanisms and diet
hierarchical_section_title: Temnodontosaurus / Palaeobiology / Feeding mechanisms and diet
caption_attribution_description: English: Temnodontosaurus burgundiae attack Stenopterygius hauffianus. Lias of Germany Русский: Temnodontosaurus burgundiae атакует Stenopterygius hauffianus. Лейас Германии
context_page_description: Temnodontosaurus is an extinct genus of ichthyosaurs from the Early Jurassic, ranging between 200 and 175 million years ago, and known from Europe and Chile. They lived in the deeper areas of the open ocean. University of Bristol paleontologist Jeremy Martin described the genus Temnodontosaurus as “one of the most ecologically disparate genera of ichthyosaurs”.
  Temnodontosaurus was one of the largest ichthyosaurs. Estimates of the maximum length of Temnodontosaurus have ranged from 9 m to 12 m. The largest length estimates rival those of another giant ichthyosaur, Shonisaurus popularis, which was previously considered the largest ichthyosaur.
  Temnodontosaurus is known for its incredibly large eyes which, at approximately 20 cm in diameter, are believed to be the largest of any known animal. It possessed a tail bend which was characteristic of Jurassic ichthyosaurs and had many conical teeth filling its jaw that were set in a continuous groove.
  The number of valid Temnodontosaurus species has varied over the years. Christopher McGowan in 1992 believed there to be around thirteen species in the genus Temnodontosaurus.
context_section_description: Temnodontosaurus was an apex predator in the Early Jurassic seas. Its diet likely consisted mainly of vertebrates such as fish, plesiosaurs and other ichthyosaurs, and may also have preyed on cephalopods. It is the only Jurassic ichthyosaur genus for which a diet consisting mainly of vertebrates has been proposed. One T. trigonodon specimen (located at the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde in Stuttgart) shows remains of Stenopterygius, another ichthyosaur, in its abdominal cavity. Due to its more robust teeth and deeper jaw, T. eurycephalus probably ate large prey such as other ichthyosaurs, while species such as T. platyodon with pointed but more modest sized teeth perhaps preferred soft-bodied prey and smaller vertebrates such as fish. Temnodontosaurus likely utilised ram feeding methods of predation. The movements of its jaw were likely rapid and so it probably used snapping rather than chewing mechanisms to eat its prey.
caption: T. burgundiae attacks Stenopterygius hauffianus, Lias of Germany
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