Kyhytysuka

Kyhytysuka (kɨhɨtɨˈsuka) is an extinct genus of ophthalmosaurian ichthyosaur from Early Cretaceous Colombia. The animal was previously assigned to the genus Platypterygius, but given its own genus in 2021. Kyhytysuka was a mid-sized ophthalmosaurian with heterodont dentition and several adaptations suggesting that it was a macropredatory vertebrate hunter living in shallow waters. It contains a single species, Kyhytysuka sachicarum.cite journal |last1=Cortés |first1=D. |last2=Maxwell |first2=E.E. |last3=Larsson |first3=H.C.E. |year=2021 |title=Re-appearance of hypercarnivore ichthyosaurs in the Cretaceous with differentiated dentition: revision of Platypterygius' sachicarum (Reptilia:Ichthyosauria, Ophthalmosauridae) from Colombia |journal=Journal of Systematic Palaeontology|volume=19 |issue=14 |pages=1–34 |doi= 10.1080/14772019.2021.1989507|s2cid=244512087 The first definitive ichthyosaur remains in Colombia were discovered in the 1970s in the Paja Formation of Villa de Leyva. This fossil, a three dimensionally preserved skull discovered by local Jorge Cárdenas, was described as a new species of Platypterygius, P. sachicarum, by María Páramo-Fonseca in 1997. However the taxon went largely ignored in the following years or was unofficially considered to be synonymous with the Argentinian Platypterygius hauthali. Further research on ichthyosaurs since its discovery have rendered the original description inadequate and furthermore found the genus of Platypterygius as taxonomically problematic. Further discoveries were made including postcranial material assigned to P. sachicarum and partial forelimbs considered to be Platypterygius sp. In 2021 Cortés et al. published a redescription of the holotype skull, finding it to represent a distinct genus they named Kyhytysuka sachicarum. The holotype, specimen DON-19671, is currently held at the Museo Geológico Nacional José Royo y Gómez, Colombian Geological Survey. The name Kyhytysuka derives from two words of the indigenous Muisca language.