Scientists have discovered a giant carnivorous ichthyosaur
Miscellaneous / / January 03, 2022
He lived over 200 million years ago.
According to new researchEarly giant reveals faster evolution of large body size in ichthyosaurs than in cetaceans, scientists have discovered the largest predator that lived in the Triassic period. This was helped by the analysis of fossil remains, whose age is estimated at 244 million years. Below you can see its reconstruction.
Here's Cymbospondylus youngorum, the monster of the Triassic deep! Based off @ fishboy86164577's reconstruction with a speculative thresher fin inspired by @DevHistoria. Hope ya'll enjoy! pic.twitter.com/xbxetJZ72Z
- Falcon9 (Commissions Open!) (@PrimevalArtist) December 24, 2021
The giant creature that lived under water had a two-meter skull, its body length could reach 17 meters. It appeared no later than 8 million years after the appearance of the first ichthyosaurs, and was able to quickly reach of such gigantic sizes due to the abundance of ammonoids during this period - small but light extraction.
It is believed to be a new subspecies of the cymbospondylus marine dinosaur called Cymbospondylus youngorum.
The find could help scientists learn more about the evolution of sea creatures. In the conclusion of the article, it is also mentioned that the ecosystem of that time could support several creatures of a similar size - perhaps even larger fossils will be found in the future.
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