Ichthyosaur eye socket ?

[Crazyhen]

This is a partial skull of an ichthyosaur from Yunnan of China.  There is a big circular part below the skull, is it a detached eye socket?

[Kane]

It might be a vert.

[Mike from North Queensland]

It could be an sclerotic ring (eye) but looks larger than what I would expect based on the other cranial bones. A close up of the object at the bottom of the circular object may help as I suspect there is more than ichthyosaur on the plate. I doubt it is a vert as pressed to flat when compared to rest of the fossil preservation. Also too large for your partial skull unless female dying during birth so a vert from the mother but again does not look like an ichthyosaur vert. Attached is a photo of some partial material from my collection.

[Crazyhen]

The eye socket of the ichthyosaur found there is really big, look at the one below.  That’s why I suspect it’s an eye socket.

[Mike from North Queensland]

Scale wise the the circular section looks good for your species just wish there was more detail in photo of your specimen