
Excavated from a rock unit called the Fossil Hill Member in the Augusta Mountains of Nevada, a well-preserved skull, along with part of a backbone, shoulder, and forefin, has been dated back to the Middle Triassic (247.2-237 million years ago).
The fossil is that of a newly discovered species of giant ichthyosaur.

As big as a large sperm whale at more than 17 meters (55.78 feet) long, the newly named Cymbospondylus youngorum is the largest animal yet discovered from that time period, on land or in the sea. In fact, it was the first giant creature to ever inhabit the Earth that we know of.

Dr. Martin Sander, paleontologist at the University of Bonn and Research Associate with the Dinosaur Institute at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) explained:
“Ichthyosaurs derive from an as yet unknown group of land-living reptiles and were air-breathing themselves.
“From the first skeleton discoveries in southern England and Germany over 250 years ago, these ‘fish-saurians’ were among the first large fossil reptiles known to science, long before the dinosaurs, and they have captured the popular imagination ever since.
“The importance of the find was not immediately apparent because only a few vertebrae were exposed on the side of the canyon. However, the anatomy of the vertebrae suggested that the front end of the animal might still be hidden in the rocks.
“Then, one cold September day in 2011, the crew needed a warm-up and tested this suggestion by excavation, finding the skull, forelimbs, and chest region.”

In other mountain ranges of Nevada, paleontologists have been recovering fossils from the Fossil Hill Member’s limestone, shale, and siltstone since 1902. The mountains connect our present to ancient oceans and have produced many species of ammonites, shelled ancestors of modern cephalopods like cuttlefish and octopuses, as well as marine reptiles. All these animal specimens are collectively known as the Fossil Hill Fauna, representing many of C. youngorum’s prey and competitors.

C. youngorum stalked the oceans some 246 million years ago, or only about three million years after the first ichthyosaurs got their fins wet, an amazingly short time to get this big. The elongated snout and conical teeth suggest that C. youngorum preyed on squid and fish, but its size meant that it could have hunted smaller and juvenile marine reptiles as well.
C. youngorum will be permanently housed at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, where it is currently on view. Visit NHM.ORG/ichthyosaur to learn more.
The researchers published their findings in Science.

Categories: Science
For Orkney’s own Icthyosaur……and a poem about it…….
https://theorkneynews.scot/2019/08/16/the-fossil-heritage-centre-burray-exactly-what-it-says-it-is/