Paleontologists have discovered sets of fossils representing three new ichthyosaurs that may have been among the largest animals to have ever lived, reports a new paper in the peer-reviewed Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
The habitat and animals that were found together with the giant ichthyosaurs. Credit: Heinz Furrer
Now a retired curator at the University of Zurich's Paleontological Institute and Museum, Dr. Furrer said he was delighted to have uncovered"the world's longest ichthyosaur; with the thickest tooth found to date and the largest trunk vertebra in Europe." Ichthyosaurs first emerged in the wake of the Permian extinction some 250 million years ago, when some 95 percent of marine species died out. The group reached its greatest diversity in the Middle Triassic and a few species persisted into the Cretaceous. Most were much smaller than S. sikanniensis and the similarly-sized species described in the paper.
Martin Sander and Michael Hautmann look over the discovery layers on the southern slope of Schesaplana, on the Graubünden/Vorarlberg border. Credit: © Jelle Heijne/University of Bonn
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