Reptilian Non-Dinosaurs from Invicta

Reptilian Non-Dinosaurs from Invicta Plastics

• Ichthyosaurus • Plesiosaur • Pteranodon • Pliosaur •

Ichthyosaurus

Considering how familiar these reptilian non-dinos are, it's peculiar that they don't appear more often in Rubber Dino sets. The Invicta offering is a decent generic ichthyosaur (although the annoyed expression - see the closeup - is a unique interpretation). But exactly which ichthyosaur he's supposed to be is more of a puzzle. Ichthyosaurus himself is well known, as hundreds of complete skeletons have been found in Lower Jurassic through Lower Cretaceous strata. These show that Ichthyosaurus was about a 2-meter (6.5 foot) animal - a far cry from the 9 meters (29 feet) molded onto the Invicta figure's ventral epidermis. Several known ichthyosaurs were much larger than Ichthyosaurus. Two members of the family Shastasauridae, both denizens of Nevada, were pretty big. Cymbospondylus, from the Middle Triassic, reached some 10 meters (33 feet), and the official Nevada State Fossil Shonisaurus, of the Upper Triassic, checked in at 15 meters (49 feet). A vast specimen, on the order of 76 feet long, was excavated from a river bank in British Columbia in the late 1990s, but it won't be known if it's a big Shonisaurus or a new genus until more work is done on it (it's currently taking up storage space at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta). Temnodontosaurus (a.k.a. Leptopterygius, of the family Leptopterygiidae), of the Lower Jurassic of Europe, reached 9 meters (29 feet). Karen Carr painted an interesting vision of Temnodontosaurus for a Scientific American cover - see link immediately below - and believe it or not, I actually have the permission of the artist to put her work on my site. [Wow, how often does that happen? -- Ed.]

Whichever ichthyosaur Invicta intended to sculpt, there are some errors. I think the dorsal fin is a tad too hook-shaped - the aft edge didn't curve inward like that, as shown by a number of Ichthysaurus specimens which have preserved carbon-film outlines showing the shape of the animal. There should be a noticeable break in the curve of the profile just aft of the head, where the body bulges up a bit. And the flippers are perhaps a bit too far aft.

Markings -

ICHTHYOSAURUS
Invicta Plastics Ltd.            © BRITISH MUSEUM
Leicester England              (NATURAL HISTORY)
                                                              1986
UP TO 9 METRES LONG

Plesiosaur

This figure scales closer to 13 meters than 14. The labeled name is a bit odd, as it's Plesiosaur, not Plesiosaurus. In fact it looks like it is meant to be an elasmosaur. All the plesiosaurs had long necks but the elasmosaurs had the longest.

Markings -

PLESIOSAUR
Length about 14 metres
© BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 1978
INVICTA PLASTICS LEICESTER ENGLAND

Pteranodon

Markings -

PTERANODON
Wingspan about 7 metres
TN 1789
© BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 1978
INVICTA PLASTICS LTD. LEICESTER ENGLAND

Liopleurodon

Another figure with an anomalous identification. The lettering on the ventral side tells us it's A PLIOSAUR (Liopleurodon). This is a peculiar format. The Invicta Dimetrodon isn't labeled A PELYCOSAUR (Dimetrodon), for instance, so what's with the PLIOSAUR tag? Strange. But at least it's correct - this is indeed a figure of the Upper Jurassic monster Liopleurodon, and Liopleurodon was a pliosaur .... a big one, too. But not as big as rumor would claim. Liopleurodon seems to have been a victim of Web bloat. (Much of the blame lies with Walking with Dinosaurs, too). A good number of current (circa 2003) web pages, all perhaps cribbing from each other, claim lengths of over 80 feet. Less than half that (39 feet - 12 meters) is a much more likely estimate. That seems plenty big enough to me. Another pliosaur, Kronosaurus, was slightly larger, at maybe 41 feet long, but Kronosaurus may have been subject to some size inflation himself. Kronosaurus does definitely beat out Liopleurodon in one respect - there is a mounted specimen of Kronosaurus (in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA - this is the 41 foot specimen) but none yet of Liopleurodon.

UPDATE - Maybe there is a mounted Liopleurodon. This photo [below] of a Liopleurodon skeleton is credited to the Institut und Museum für Geologie und Paläontologie der Universität Tübingen. Unfortunately the Institut und Museum has a sparse Web presence, and I have no more information about this specimen.

FURTHER UPDATE - I found what is obviously that same specimen, though filed as a Pliosaurus ferox, pictured in a 1964 reference (Josef Augusta, Prehistoric Sea Monsters, Paul Hamlyn, London, page 29). The assignment to Pliosaurus is puzzling, as I believe Liopleurodon ferox was described in 1874. L. ferox and P. ferox surely look like the same animal to me. Although now in Tübingen, the skeleton was found in the Oxford Clay in Northamptonshire. This specimen is something over 10 feet long - a formidable animal, but a loooooong way from 80 feet.

At 1:45 scale, this 8.25" figure scales to 32 feet long, a bit on the petite side - alternatively, if the animal was 39 feet long, the figure works out to about 1:55 scale.

This is my favorite of the Invicta figures, so I've put in some extra views. I particularly like the teeth - prominent, yet tastefully restrained.

Markings -

A PLIOSAUR (Liopleurodon)
LENGTH ABOUT 8 METRES
© BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) 1989
INVICTA PLASTICS LTD. LEICESTER ENGLAND