The fossilized remains of a colossal 180-million-year-old ichthyosaur have been found in the UK, in what researchers have described as one of the most significant finds in the region.
Discovered in a reserve in the count of Rutland, in the English East Midlands, the specimen is the largest and most complete ichthyosaur fossil ever found in the UK, measuring almost 33 feet (just over 10 meters) in length and with a skull weighing one tonne.
It is also believed to be the first of its particular kind — Temnodontosaurus trigonodon — to be found in Great Britain.
Marine reptiles that lived alongside dinosaurs, ichthyosaurs resemble dolphins in their body shape. They became extinct about 90 million years ago, after first appearing 250 million years ago.
The ichthyosaur was first discovered in February last year at the Rutland Water Nature Reserve by Joe Davis, a conservation team leader at the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, which operates the nature reserve in partnership with owner Anglian Water.
Davis was carrying out routine landscaping work, which involved draining water into the pond, when he saw parts of vertebrae sticking out of the mud, Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust said in a statement. press release.
Then a team of paleontologists carried out a large-scale excavation in August and September, led by Dean Lomax, an ichthyosaur expert and current visiting scientist at the University of Manchester.
“The size and completeness together is what makes it truly exceptional,” Lomax told CNN, adding that previous ichthyosaur discoveries in the UK were “not as complete as this one.”
Lomax said it was the most complete large specimen — which he classified as 10 meters or more in length — ever found in the world. He also said it was “a really fantastic discovery” as well as, for him, “a career milestone”.
“This was a predator at the top of the food chain,” he told CNN of the discovery. “So this would be dining on other ichthyosaurs, oversize fish, and if it manages to hunt them, squid too.”
However, Lomax said the discovery was the “tip of the iceberg”, with much to discover about the specimen after chunks of rock were removed, with the possibility that the ichthyosaur’s last meal was preserved or even that the reptile was pregnant. .
“It was surprising,” Regan Harris, a spokeswoman for Anglian Water, told CNN. “I mean, you kind of couldn’t believe your eyes when you were looking at him in front of you. But yeah, amazing.”
Harris, who was present at the dig, said that small ichthyosaurs have already been discovered in the Rutland Water reserve, but the “full scale” and “well-preserved” nature of this particular find made it unique.
Paul Barrett, a research fellow in the department of Earth Vertebrate Science and Anthropological Paleobiology at the Natural Museum in London, said the Rutland ichthyosaur was “probably one of the largest fossils ever found, including dinosaurs.” Barrett was not involved in the discovery.
“It’s really a really impressive and spectacular object,” Barrett told CNN. “Certainly one of the most impressive marine fossil discoveries in the UK that I can remember in at least the last 20 to 30 years.”
Barrett, whose work has covered dinosaurs and other extinct reptiles, including ichthyosaurs, said the find confirms the species’ “cosmopolitanism”, which was previously known mainly in Germany.
The specimen is currently being worked on by an expert in paleontological conversation, a process that will take 12 to 18 months. Harris says that the focus will then be on putting it on public display.
“We’re very proud of that, and I know the local community is too,” she tells CNN. “We really want to bring it back to Rutland and show it off for people to enjoy.”
For Lomax, lead researcher, one hope is to further explore the Rutland Water reserve, as six or seven vertebrae of other ichthyosaurs were also found during the excavation.
He said the fact that “unexpected things that happened to make this discovery possible” did not go unnoticed by him.
“Honestly, it’s incredibly unusual,” Lomax told CNN. “Avid fossil hunters or paleontologists can search their entire careers and never find anything like this, even when you know where to look.”
This content was originally created in English.
original version
Reference: CNN Brasil
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