
- Genus: Argovisaurus
- Species: A. martafernandezi
- Classification:
- Ichthyosauria
- Ophthalmosauria
- Authors: Feiko Miedema, Dylan Bastiaans, Torsten M. Scheyer, Christian Klug and Erin E. Maxwell
- Age: Middle-Late Bajocian (Middle Jurassic)
- Location:Canton Aargau, Switzerland
- Type Specimen: PIMUZ A/III 5279
Argovisaurus is an early-diverging ophthalmosaurian from the (Middle-Late) Bajocian of Canton Aargau, Switzerland. This genus only has a single species, Argovisaurus martafernandezi, which was described by Feiko Miedema et al., in 2024 (Meidema et al., 2024), and is estimated to have been 4.5 -6m in life.
The type specimen consists of a relatively complete skull, fragmentary pectoral girdle elements and a large portion of spinal column/rib material, and is estimated to be a sexually mature specimen in the juvenile stage. The material suggests that a combination of relative size, a robust rostrum and pseudoalveoli is indicative of a nektonic predator, and suggests that this body form evolved earlier within Ophthalmosauria, which mirrored the emergence of thalassophonean pliosaurs at roughly the same time.
Scan data is still currently being studied by the authors, who are creating an interpretive reconstruction of the entire cranium using other parvipelvian ichthyosaurs to reconstruct missing skull elements, which will be publicly available upon completion.
