The specimen was discovered by Chris Moore of Charmouth, UK. Moore then sold it to the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada in 2001
A new species of Pliensbachian ichthyosaur has been discovered in England that is from the mid-Pliensbachian stage of the early Jurassic period.
The Xiphodracon goldencapensis gen. et sp. nov. ichthyosaur, code named ROM (Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada) VP52596, is an almost complete skeleton of the animal. It includes a nearly complete skull and skeleton and is missing only the hindfin and the posterior part of the tail. It was found along what is known as the Jurassic Coast of England in the shoreline area between Charmouth and Seatown, Dorset.
While Pliensbachian ichthyosaurs have been documented in Europe, in the United Kingdom, their discovery is usually limited to a few fragments, the researchers noted. This finding is the first of a nearly complete skeleton of the species.
Jaw Bone Of Estimated 26 Meter Long Ichthyosaur Discovered On British Beach
“This research describes a nearly complete specimen of a new genus and species of Pliensbachian ichthyosaur, Xiphodracon goldencapensis, from the west Dorset coast, UK, the most complete Pliensbachian ichthyosaur described thus far, the researchers wrote in their paper. “It is stratigraphically higher than other Pliensbachian ichthyosaurs from the UK, and provides insight into the turnover of ichthyosaurian taxa towards the end of the Early Jurassic, a pivotal but poorly understood time in ichthyosaurian evolution.”
The specimen was discovered by Chris Moore of Charmouth, UK. Moore then sold it to the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada in 2001, where preparation of the specimen was completed. It has a total length of 218cm from the tip of the snout to the last preserved vertebrate including the skull, which is crushed.
The majority of the right and left sides of the skull are intact, while the original shape of the top and skull roof are altered. The skull has been three dimensionally preserved as are the mandible and teeth, pectoral girdle, both forfeits, pelvic girdle, parts of both hidnfins and axial skeleton. Its name, Xiphodracon translates from the ancient Greek siphons, which means sword or sword-shaped. This is in reference to the long and narrow snout, the researchers wrote. Dracon is ancient Greek and Latin for dragon, so the meaning is sword dragon.
The complete paper describing the species, “A new long and narrow-snouted ichthyosaur illuminates a complex faunal turnover during an undersampled Early Jurassic (Pliensbachian) interval,” can be read on the Wiley Online Library.
