Skip to main content

FM
Former Member

Ancient marine reptile found in Scotland

New Icthyosaur is 1st uniquely Scottish marine reptile ever discovered and studied

Thomson Reuters Posted: Jan 12, 2015 10:46 AM ET, Last Updated: Jan 12, 2015 9:17 PM ET, Source - CBC Canada

 

Dearcmhara shawcrossi, seen in an artist's impression, was a dolphin-like seagoing reptile called an ichthyosaur that lived about 170 million years ago and was about 4.3 metres long. A fossil of the creature was found on Scotland's Isle of Skye .

Dearcmhara shawcrossi, seen in an artist's impression, was a dolphin-like seagoing reptile called an ichthyosaur that lived about 170 million years ago and was about 4.3 metres long. A fossil of the creature was found on Scotland's Isle of Skye . (Todd Marshall/University of Edinburgh)

 

Scotland has its very own prehistoric marine reptile — and, no, we're not talking about Nessie, the mythic LochNess monster.

 

Scientists have announced the discovery of the fossil remains of a dolphin-like seagoing reptile on Scotland's Isle of Skye that lived about 170 million years ago and was about 4.3 metres long.

 

The creature, named Dearcmhara shawcrossi, is a member of a group called ichthyosaurs that were among the dominant marine reptiles when dinosaurs ruled the land. Ichthyosaurs, some of which reached monstrous proportions rivaling all but the largest of today's whales, thrived for more than 150 million years until disappearing about 95 million years ago

 

Dearcmhara, a moderate-sized ichthyosaur, swam in warm, shallow seas during the Jurassic Period, eating fish and squid. Its remains are incomplete but the shape of a bone in its front flippers suggests it may have been an especially strong or fast swimmer, the researchers said.

 

"It is from Scotland, and is the first uniquely Scottish marine reptile ever discovered and studied," said University of Edinburgh paleontologist Steve Brusatte, one of the researchers in the study published on Monday in the Scottish Journal of Geology.

 

Private collector donated fossil to museum

"Many other marine reptile fossils have been found in Scotland, but the vast majority of these have disappeared into private collections or been sold. This new specimen finally breaks the impasse: it was found by a private collector who did a great thing, donated it to a museum and worked with scientists," Brusatte added.

 

Amateur fossil hunter Brian Shawcross found the fossils on a beach in the northern part of the Isle of Skye in 1959 and donated them in the 1990s, researchers said. The genus name Dearcmhara (pronounced "jark vara") is Scottish Gaelic for "marine lizard." The species name honors Shawcross.

 

"It is important to emphasize how grateful we are that Brian donated the bones he found all those years ago," added paleontologist Neil Clark of the University of Glasgow's Hunterian Museum, which received the fossils.

 

The discovery sheds light on a span of the Jurassic regarded as nearly a black hole in the marine reptile fossil record, Brusatte said. Scotland is one of the few places with fossils from that time.

 

Other fossils indicate Dearcmhara lived alongside members of another branch of marine reptiles called plesiosaurs, known for long necks and paddle-like flippers. The elusive Nessie is commonly portrayed as looking like a plesiosaur.

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Ichthyosaur fossil graveyard found in Chile

46 skeletons of ancient dolphin-like reptile found

Thomson Reuters Posted: Jun 04, 2014 9:07 AM ET, Last Updated: Jun 04, 2014 9:46 AM ET, Source - CBC Canada

 

The ichthyosaur fossils were found by glaciologists near the Tyndall glacier in southern Chile. They had likely been recently exposed as the glacier receded.

The ichthyosaur fossils were found by glaciologists near the Tyndall glacier in southern Chile. They had likely been recently exposed as the glacier receded. (W. Stinnesbeck)

 

Paleontologists have discovered nearly 50 entire ichthyosaur fossils in southern Chile, calling the find one of the best to date.

 

Ichthyosaurs — which means "fish-lizard" — were dolphin-like marine lizards that lived around the time of the dinosaurs.

 

"This great ichthyosaur cemetery, the way the remains are deposited, is unique," Christian Salazar, paleontologist researcher and natural history museum curator, said on Tuesday.

 

"It's the most recent great find in their history. That's going to answer a lot of questions about how they became extinct, where they migrated to, how they lived."

 

The fossils of the dolphin-like creature were unearthed in the country's Torres del Paine National Park, whose spiky peaks and brilliant turquoise lakes make it a magnet for trekkers and nature lovers.

 

They included almost complete skeletons from 46 individuals from four different species. Some were adults, including pregnant females and their embryos (ichthyosaurs gave birth to live young, rather than laying eggs) and others were juveniles. The fossils preserved not just bones, but some rare soft tissue, said a news release from the Geological Society of America Bulletin, where the research was recently published.

 

Researchers said the marine reptiles, buried by rocks from the huge Tyndall Glacier, lived between the Triassic and Cretaceous periods, which extended from 250 million to 66 million years ago.

 

They are thought to have hunted in packs through a nearby submarine canyon for small fish and squid, said a news release from the University of Heidelberg.

 

The researchers believe the animals were probably drowned by powerful mudflows from nearby shores unleashed by earthquakes and avalanches as the continent broke apart during that period of geological history.

 

The fossils were found in about three months of excavating, Salazar added, and more were likely to be found.


Forty-six complete skeletons of ichthyosaurs were excavated over three months. (W. Stinnesbeck)

FM

Add Reply

×
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×