What is Temnodontosaurus?
{{italictitle}} {{Taxobox | color = lightblue | name = ''Temnodontosaurus'' | fossil_range = [[Lower Jurassic]] | image = Hul - Temnodontosaurus platyodon and Temnodontosaurus sp. 2.jpg | image_width = 250px | image_caption = Wall-mounted skeleton of ''Temnodontosaurus platyodon'', with puny humans reflected in the glass. [[Natural History Museum]], London. | regnum = [[Animal]]ia | phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]] | classis = [[Reptile|Sauropsida]] | subclassis = [[Diapsid]]a | ordo = [[Ichthyosaur|Ichthyopterygia]] | subordo = [[Ichthyosaur]]ia | familia = [[Leptopterygiidae]] | genus = '''''Temnodontosaurus''''' | genus_authority = [[Richard Lydekker|Lydekker]], [[1889]] | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = * ''T. eurycephalus'' * ''T. nuertingensis'' * ''T. platyodon'' }} '''''Temnodontosaurus''''' was an [[ichthyosaur]] from the early [[Jurassic]], some 196 to 190 million years ago. It was found in [[England]] by [[Mary Anning]], and later in [[Germany]]. It was, in fact, her first ichthyosaur. Her brother found the [[skull]], and she found the rest of the skeleton, in about 1810. It was described in 1814. There are four or five species of ''Temnodontosaurus''. They grew to [[killer whale]] size, about 30 to 40 feet.<ref>The first-found species, ''T. platyodon'', is the smallest one.</ref> This huge ichthyosaur cruised the [[wikt:shallow|shallow]] seas hunting. But hunting what? A discussion by Christopher McGowan suggests that other reptiles might have been on the menu.<ref>McGowan, Christopher 1997. ''The raptor and the lamb: predators and prey in the living world''. Henry Holt and Penguin, p192. {{ISBN|0-14-027264-X}}</ref> McGowan also mentions that in the museum collections are some teeth and bones which suggest even larger ichthyosaurs existed. == Eye size == Ichthyosaurs hold the record for eye size: the largest was 264mm in [[diameter]] (~10.4&nbsp;inches), from the species ''Temnodontosaurus platyodon''.<ref>[[David Attenborough]] on ''Temnodontosaurus''. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?