An international team of paleontologists from England and Germany has found the fossilized remains of the largest ichthyosaur ever described. As the analysis showed, the size of the ancient lizard was comparable to the modern blue whale, exceeding 25 meters. The research was published in the scientific journal magazine PLOS One.
A prehistoric sea giant has been discovered off the British coast in Somerset. The 202-million-year-old bones were dated to the end of the Triassic period, known as the Rhaetian period. Scientists noted that this was the heyday of giant dinosaurs on land and in the ocean.
The team named the new genus and species of the titanic ichthyosaur Ichthyotitan severnensis.
Further research into the internal structure of bones was carried out by German scientists from the University of Bonn. They found that the ichthyotian found at the time of death had not reached its maximum size and was continuing to grow.
“We managed to confirm a unique set of histological features specific to the lower jaws of giant ichthyosaurs: Abnormal periosteal growth of these bones points to unknown skeletal developmental strategies that likely allowed Late Triassic ichthyosaurs to reach known biological limits of vertebrate size.” paleontologists noted.
Previous scientists to create Other skeletal fragments of giant ichthyosaurs are scattered across Europe.
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Source: Gazeta
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