A skeleton discovered on Dorset’s Jurassic coast has been identified as a new species of prehistoric marine reptile that once ruled the oceans.
The dolphin-sized ichthyosaur, called Xiphodracon goldencapensis or the “Sword Dragon of Dorset”, is the only known example of its kind in existence.
Thousands of ichthyosaur fossils have been found along the Jurassic Coast, but scientists say this particular fossil helps to fill an evolutionary gap.
First discovered by a prolific fossil hunter at Golden Cap in Dorset in 2001, the new ichthyosaur skeleton was then acquired by a museum in Canada.
Experts have now analysed the skeleton and published a paper identifying it as a new species of ichthyosaur.
The skeleton includes a skull with enormous eye sockets and a long, sword-like snout.
It is thought the marine reptile was about three metres long and would have eaten fish and squid, with the remains even showing traces of its last meal.
Dr Erin Maxwell, a co-author and ichthyosaur expert from the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, said: “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.”
She explained that the skeleton even provides clues as to how the reptile lived and died.
Dr Maxwell added.: “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.”
Ichthyosaurs are classified as marine reptiles, not dinosaurs, because they spent their lives in the water.
This particular ichthyosaur is thought to have swum the seas about 185 million years ago, a period from which very few ichthyosaur fossils have been found.
Dr Lomax, who is the author of the recently published book The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs, said: “One of the coolest things about identifying a new species is that you get to name it. We opted for ‘Xiphodracon’ because of the long, sword-like snout (xipho from Greek xiphos for sword) and dracon (Greek and Latin for dragon) in reference to ichthyosaurs being referred to as ‘sea dragons’ for over 200 years.”
The new research was published on Friday in the international journal Papers in Palaeontology. The skeleton is planned to go on display at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada.