A near-complete skeleton found in Dorset on the UK’s Jurassic Coast has been identified as a brand-new species of ichthyosaur.
These prehistoric marine reptiles look a lot like dolphins and from the Early Triassic (250 million years ago) to the Late Cretaceous (90 million years) were some of the most formidable predators in the world’s oceans.
The new species has been named Xiphodracon goldencapensis, or the ‘Sword Dragon of Dorset’, after its long and narrow snout.
At roughly the size of a dolphin, Xiphodracon is average-sized for an ichthyosaur. The largest ichthyosaur ever, Ichthyotitan, was more than ten times larger and may have reached lengths of 25m.
While thousands of ichthyosaurs have been discovered along the UK’s Jurassic Coast, starting with the famous finds of Mary Anning in the early 1800s, this newly described skeleton is the first found in Early Jurassic-aged rocks from the region in over 100 years, and by far the most complete.
The discovery of Xiphodracon’s near-complete skeleton was actually made way back in 2001 when local fossil collector Chris Moore stumbled across several bones near Golden Cap, a cliff that looks over the English Channel and sits between Charmouth and Seatown in Dorset.
After its discovery, the skeleton was acquired by the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada, where it remained unstudied until recently.
In a new study published today in Papers in Palaeontology, ichthyosaur experts Dean Lomax, Judy Massare and Erin Maxwell described the skeleton and, more than 20 years after its discovery, gave it a name.
“I remember seeing the skeleton for the first time in 2016. Back then, I knew it was unusual, but I did not expect it to play such a pivotal role in helping to fill a gap in our understanding of a complex faunal turnover during the Pliensbachian [a period of the Early Jurassic spanning roughly eight million years],” explained Lomax in an associated press release.
The Pliensbachian was a particularly tumultuous period for ichthyosaurs, marking a time when several families went extinct and new families emerged. Fossils from this period are rare, so Xiphodracon serves as a vital piece of evidence for palaeontologists studying this poorly understood period of ichthyosaurian evolution.
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Maxwell, a co-author of the new study, described how much this skeleton adds to our understanding of these underwater predators.
“This skeleton provides critical information for understanding ichthyosaur evolution, but also contributes to our understanding of what life must have been like in the Jurassic seas of Britain. The limb bones and teeth are malformed in such a way that points to serious injury or disease while the animal was still alive, and the skull appears to have been bitten by a large predator - likely another much larger species of ichthyosaur - giving us a cause of death for this individual. Life in the Mesozoic oceans was a dangerous prospect.”
The skull appears to have been bitten by a large predator - likely another much larger species of ichthyosaur - giving us a cause of death for this individual.
Xiphodracon has a distinctive sword-like snout, as well as a strange bone around the nostril (called a lacrimal) that has prong-like bony structures - a feature never before observed in ichthyosaurs.
Like many other ichthyosaurs, Xiphodracon is believed to have hunted fish, squid, and other iconic marine life of the period, such as ammonites.
The skeleton is due to go on display at the Royal Ontario Museum soon. Find out more about the study here: A new long and narrow-snouted ichthyosaur illuminates a complex faunal turnover during an undersampled Early Jurassic (Pliensbachian) interval.
Top image: The skeleton was found near Golden Cap, a cliff that looks over the English Channel and sits between Charmouth and Seatown in Dorset. Credit: Getty
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