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International team announces discovery of massive Jurassic marine reptile
March 05, 2008University of Alaska Museum of the North earth sciences curator Patrick Druckenmiller is among a team of researchers who have excavated the fossil of what may be the largest Jurrasic marine reptile ever found.
The Norwegian research team unearthed the 150-million-year-old pliosaur specimen from the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard last summer. At the time, they knew the Jurassic fossil was significant. After months of preparing and conserving the specimen at the Natural History Museum at the University of Oslo, researchers confirmed their earlier suspicions: the fossil is perhaps the largest ever found.
A pliosaur is a type of plesiosaur, a group of extinct reptiles that lived in the world's oceans 205-65 million years ago. Pliosaurs are characterized by teardrop-shaped bodies with two pairs of powerful flippers used to propel them through the water. They were top predators during their day, preying upon fish, squid-like animals and other marine reptiles. They averaged 16-20 feet in length with flippers 3-4 feet long. One of the largest known pliosaurs, the Australian Kronosaurus, measures 33-36 feet long with 6-foot-long flippers. By comparison, the Svalbard specimen, nicknamed "The Monster" by the research team, is estimated to be 50 feet long with 10-foot-long flippers.
"This is one of the largest and relatively complete plesiosaur specimens ever found," says Druckenmiller, whose research focuses on plesiosaurs. "Its discovery in Svalbard also demonstrates that these gigantic animals inhabited the northern seas during the age of dinosaurs."
Led by Norwegian paleontologist Jřrn Hurum, the international research team, including Druckenmiller, discovered the specimen in summer 2006. Judging from the fragments they recovered at the time, they knew the find was significant and returned the next year to retrieve more of the specimen. During the three-week field season in summer 2007, the team excavated the specimen from the surrounding shale, removing several tons of rock by hand in the process. Though they didn't find the entire skeleton, they recovered several critical parts used to identify the specimen and compare it to other known plesiosaurs: portions of the skull, including the teeth; much of the neck and back; the shoulder girdle; and a near-complete forelimb. One of the key questions researchers hope to answer is whether this specimen represents a species new to science.
In addition to "The Monster" pliosaur specimen, the crew also discovered parts of three other marine reptiles nearby: a long-necked plesiosaur, an ichthyosaur and another pliosaur. Based in part on these discoveries and several others made by the team, scientists now recognize Svalbard as home to one of the richest accumulations of marine reptile fossils in the world.
"The scientific value of such a large locality with unknown species of marine reptiles is just staggering," says Hurum. Druckenmiller will join Hurum and the Oslo team on another research expedition to Svalbard in August 2008.
University of Alaska
"This is one of the largest and relatively complete plesiosaur specimens ever found," says Druckenmiller, whose research focuses on plesiosaurs. "Its discovery in Svalbard also demonstrates that these gigantic animals inhabited the northern seas during the age of dinosaurs."
Led by Norwegian paleontologist Jřrn Hurum, the international research team, including Druckenmiller, discovered the specimen in summer 2006. Judging from the fragments they recovered at the time, they knew the find was significant and returned the next year to retrieve more of the specimen. During the three-week field season in summer 2007, the team excavated the specimen from the surrounding shale, removing several tons of rock by hand in the process. Though they didn't find the entire skeleton, they recovered several critical parts used to identify the specimen and compare it to other known plesiosaurs: portions of the skull, including the teeth; much of the neck and back; the shoulder girdle; and a near-complete forelimb. One of the key questions researchers hope to answer is whether this specimen represents a species new to science.
In addition to "The Monster" pliosaur specimen, the crew also discovered parts of three other marine reptiles nearby: a long-necked plesiosaur, an ichthyosaur and another pliosaur. Based in part on these discoveries and several others made by the team, scientists now recognize Svalbard as home to one of the richest accumulations of marine reptile fossils in the world.
"The scientific value of such a large locality with unknown species of marine reptiles is just staggering," says Hurum. Druckenmiller will join Hurum and the Oslo team on another research expedition to Svalbard in August 2008.
University of Alaska
Ancient reptile rises from Alberta oil sands
One of the oldest and most complete plesiosaur fossils recovered in North America, and the oldest yet discovered from the Cretaceous Period, represents a new genus of the prehistoric aquatic predator according to University of Calgary palaeontologists who have formally described the creature after its remains were uncovered in a Syncrude Canada Ltd. mine near Fort McMurray in 1994.
Volcanic blast likely killed and preserved juvenile fossil plesiosaur found in Antarctica
Amid 70-mile-an-hour winds and freezing Antarctic conditions, an American-Argentine research team has recovered the well-preserved fossil skeleton of a juvenile plesiosaur-a marine reptile that swam the waters of the Southern Ocean roughly 70 million years ago.
Fossils from ancient sea monster found in Montana
A fossil-hunting trip to celebrate a son's homecoming resulted in the recent discovery of an ancient sea monster in central Montana.
Pregnant prehistoric fossil offers clues to past
University of Alberta scientists have named a new species of ancient marine reptile, fondly called the Ping Pong Ichthyosaur for the spot the prehistoric creature called home for the last 25 years.
Cole Museum of Zoology Opens Its Doors
MEDIA OPPORTUNITY: Rare chance to see the whole animal kingdom in an hour LOCATION: Foyer of Animal and Microbial Sciences building at University of Reading Whiteknights campus TIME & DATE: Wednesday 17 March at 6pm The Cole Museum of Zoology, featuring more than 3,500 unique and exciting specimens, is being opened at the University of Reading after a yearlong redevelopment project. Funded by a £25,000 grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Board, the refurbished museum will provide a contemporary, natural history learning resource for schools and students and an attractive, up to date display for the enjoyment of the general public. To mark the launch of the Cole Museum of Zoo
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