Newly described, with a 19-foot-long torpedo-shaped body and long teeth Rorainosaurus It was a huge, terrifying predator. Fossilized remains of a 170-million-year-old marine reptile are the oldest known Pliosaurus And its history goes back to the Jurassic period. Regarding this discovery, The study was published Oct. 16 in the journal scientific report.
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Pliosaurs were members of a group of sea-dwelling reptiles closely related to the more famous long-necked plesiosaurs. Unlike their cousins, these pliosaurs had short necks and huge skulls. It was probably about 19 feet long from snout to tail, but little is known about plesiosaurs of this era.
“A famous example is Pliosaurus and Kronosaurus– Some of the world’s largest pliosaurs were so gigantic that they were over 10 meters long [32 feet]. They are the ecological equivalent of today’s killer whales and likely ate a variety of prey, including squid-like cephalopods, large fish, and other marine reptiles. All of this was discovered as preserved intestinal contents,” says study co-author Benjamin Kjaer, a paleontologist at Uppsala University. stated in a statement.
Pliosaurs first appeared more than 200 million years ago, but remained relatively small players in the marine ecosystem. They achieved apex predator status after a revolutionary reorganization of marine predator ecosystems during the Early to Middle Jurassic period (about 175 to 171 million years ago).
“This event had a profound impact on many marine reptile groups, with giant predatory plesiosaurs outnumbering ‘fish-like’ ichthyosaurs, relatives of ancient marine crocodiles, and other large predatory plesiosaurs.” have also become predominant,” said study co-author and paleontologist at the Institute of Paleontology.Polish Academy of Sciences Daniel Mazia stated in a statement.
The fossils used in this research are First discovered in 1983 Originally living in northeastern France, it was recently analyzed by an international team of paleontologists and this new genus of pliosaurs was identified. Rorainosaurus. The teeth and bones represent what was once a complete skeleton, broken down and spread along the ancient ocean floor by scavengers and ocean currents.
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“Rorainosaurus It was one of the first truly giant pliosaurs. “It gave rise to a dynasty of giant predator marine reptiles that dominated the oceans for about 80 million years,” says study co-author Sven Sachs, a paleontologist at the Nature Museum Bielefeld in Germany. stated in a statement.
Other than Short report published in 1994, these fossils remained unknown until the team reevaluated the specimens. The discovery of Rorainosaurus fossils indicates that the reign of the giant megapredatory pliosaurs likely began earlier than paleontologists previously thought. These giants were also responding locally to major ecological changes in the marine environment that covered what is now Europe during the early Middle Jurassic.
“Rorainosaurus “This is therefore an important addition to our knowledge of the still incompletely understood ancient marine reptiles of the dinosaur era.”
The post This Jurassic-era ‘sea killer’ was one of the first of its kind appeared first on Popular Science.
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