They find ichthyotitans, the largest marine reptiles ever found, two buses long

The discovery of the remains of Ictiotan has a beautiful story. Justin Reynolds and his 11-year-old daughter, Ruby, found part of a giant ichthyosaur jaw in May 2020 while searching for fossils at Blue Anchor Beach. Realizing they had discovered something important, they contacted paleontologist Dean Lomax, from the Universities of Manchester and Bristol. The researcher and his team had described another very similar jaw discovered by Paul de La Salle, an experienced fossil collector, in May 2016 off the coast of Lilystock, and he expressed hope that more fossils would emerge over time.

“I was very excited,” Lomax admits. “This new specimen is more complete, better preserved, and shows that we now have two of these giant bones, called cycloplectic bones, which have a unique shape and structure,” he says.

Reynolds and his daughter with Lomax De la Salle visited the site to search for more fossil pieces. Over time, the team found additional fossils of the same jaw that fit together perfectly, like a puzzle millions of years old. The last piece of bone was recovered in October 2022.

Mass extinction

The team named the new genus and species Ichthyotitan severensisWhich means “giant Severn lizard fish” and was described Wednesday in the magazine One plus. The bones are about 202 million years old and date to the end of the Triassic at a time known as Rhaetica. These species did not live much longer, as a cataclysm known as the Late Triassic mass extinction event soon occurred, wiping out the giant ichthyosaurs. Today, these bones represent the last of their kind.

Ichthyotitan is not the world's first giant ichthyosaur, but jaws appear about 13 million years later than its geological relatives, including Ichthyotitan. Schonisaurus sikanensis British Columbia, Canada, and Tibetan Himalayasaurus From Tibet, China.

“I was very impressed that Robbie and Justin correctly identified this find as another massive ichthyosaur jaw. They realized it matched the one we described in 2018. I asked them if they would like to join my team to study and describe this fossil, including naming it. They jumped at the chance.” Robbie, in particular, is now a published scientist who not only found a species of giant prehistoric reptile, but also helped name it. There's probably not many teenagers who can say that, says Lomax In the process of formation.”

“It was amazing to discover part of this giant ichthyosaur. “I am very proud to be involved in a scientific discovery like this,” the young woman says.

Interestingly, the animal was still growing at the time of its death. Bone growth refers to as-yet-ununderstood bone growth strategies that likely allowed ichthyosaurs to reach the known biological limits of vertebrates in terms of size.

For Lomax, “These jaws indicate that perhaps a complete skull or skeleton of one of these giants may one day be found. You never know.”