“New” old ichthyosaurs from the Verona Museum: three re-discovered marine reptiles from the Upper Jurassic of Veneto region (Northern Italy)

In 2016, two fossil marine reptiles (V7101 and V7102) were re-discovered in the Verona Natural History Museum's collections. Both, never mentioned in the literature, were found in 1904 in the middle member of Rosso Ammonitico Veronese (RAV) at Monte Interrotto, near Asiago (Vicenza province). V7101 is a semi-articulated vertebral column (anterodorsal to mid-dorsal region) with ribs. It is an ichthyosaur with the left part of the ribcage still intact and in anatomical position. Calcareous nannofossils from the matrix allowed us to ascribe V7101 to the early-middle Oxfordian (NJT13a subzone). Lacking clear diagnostic elements, we can only state it is a parvipelvian ichthyosaur, most likely belonging to Ophthalmosauridae based on stratigraphic occurrence. V7102 is part of a vertebral column, with displaced ribs partially merged together above the centra. The poor preservation prevents a clear identification of the individual elements; however, we provisionally attribute it to an ichthyosaur as well. The calcareous nannofossils indicate a late Oxfordian-?basal Kimmeridgian age (top NJT13-?base NJT14). A third specimen (V7158), found in 1881 and shortly after cited by De Zigno and De Stefani, is still undescribed. V7158, re-discovered by one of us (G.R.) in the nineties, is the tip of an ichthyosaur rostrum with some broken teeth, coming from the uppermost RAV in Campo Retratto, near Erbezzo (Verona province). Calcareous nannofossils allow it to be ascribed to the early Tithonian (NJT15a). The shape of the anteriormost rostrum and the relatively robust teeth with coarsely ridged enamel suggest V7158 was a generalist predator similar to Aegirosaurus.