X-Nico

unusual facts about transitional form



Mixosaurus

The name means "Mixed Lizard", and was chosen because it appears to have been a transitional form between the eel-shaped Ichthyosaurs such as Cymbospondylus and the later dolphin-shaped ichthyosaurs, such as Ichthyosaurus.


see also

Auchenaspis

salteri strongly resembles the thyestiids Procephalaspis and Thyestes, and within Thyestiida, it represents a transitional form between the primitive, superficially Cephalaspis-like forms, such as Thyestes, and the more specialized tremataspid thyestiids, like Tremataspis, Dartmuthia, or Dobraspis, whose headshields tend to resemble hot buns or horseshoe crabs.