Extinct swordfish-shaped marine reptile discovered

Date:
November 29, 2021
Source:
McGill University
Summary:
Researchers have discovered a new marine reptile. The specimen,
a stunningly preserved meter-long skull, is one of the last
surviving ichthyosaurs -- ancient animals that look eerily like
living swordfish.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A team of international researchers from Canada, Colombia, and Germany
has discovered a new marine reptile. The specimen, a stunningly preserved metre- long skull, is one of the last surviving ichthyosaurs -- ancient
animals that look eerily like living swordfish.


========================================================================== "This animal evolved a unique dentition that allowed it to eat large
prey," says Hans Larsson, Director of the Redpath Museum at McGill
University.

"Whereas other ichthyosaurs had small, equally sized teeth for feeding on
small prey, this new species modified its tooth sizes and spacing to build
an arsenal of teeth for dispatching large prey, like big fishes and other marine reptiles." "We decided to name itKyhytysuka which translates to
'the one that cuts with something sharp' in an indigenous language from
the region in central Colombia where the fossil was found, to honour the ancient Muisca culture that existed there for millennia," says Dirley
Cortes, a graduate student under the supervision of Hans Larsson and
Carlos Jaramillo of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

The big picture of ichthyosaur evolution is clarified with this
new species, the researchers say. "We compared this animal to other
Jurassic and Cretaceous ichthyosaurs and were able to define a new
type of ichthyosaurs," says Erin Maxwell of the State Natural History
Museum of Stuttgart (a former graduate student of Hans Larsson's lab at McGill). "This shakes up the evolutionary tree of ichthyosaurs and lets
us test new ideas of how they evolved." According to the researchers,
this species comes from an important transitional time during the
Early Cretaceous period. At this time, the Earth was coming out of a
relatively cool period, had rising sea levels, and the supercontinent
Pangea was splitting into northern and southern landmasses. There was also
a global extinction event at the end of the Jurassic that changed marine
and terrestrial ecosystems. "Many classic Jurassic marine ecosystems
of deep-water feeding ichthyosaurs, short-necked plesiosaurs, and marine-adapted crocodiles were succeeded by new lineages of long-necked plesiosaurs, sea turtles, large marine lizards called mosasaurs, and
now this monster ichthyosaur" says Dirley Cortes.

"We are discovering many new species in the rocks this new ichthyosaur
comes from. We are testing the idea that this region and time in Colombia
was an ancient biodiversity hotspot and are using the fossils to better understand the evolution of marine ecosystems during this transitional
time," she adds. As next steps the researchers are continuing to explore
the wealth of new fossils housed in the Centro de Investigaciones Paleontolo'gicas of Villa de Leyva in Colombia. "This is where I
grew up," says Cortes "and it is so rewarding to get to do research
here too." Kyhytysuka video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5URorvooZCQ ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by McGill_University. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Dirley Corte's, Erin E. Maxwell, Hans C. E. Larsson. Re-appearance
of
hypercarnivore ichthyosaurs in the Cretaceous with differentiated
dentition: revision of `Platypterygius' sachicarum (Reptilia:
Ichthyosauria, Ophthalmosauridae) from Colombia. Journal of
Systematic Palaeontology, 2021; 1 DOI: 10.1080/14772019.2021.1989507 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211129155057.htm

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