The remains of a large marine creature with huge teeth that can help catch giant octopus have been found in the Swiss Alps.
Ichthyosaurs are large, reptile-shaped sea creatures. They first appeared after the end of the Bermian Destruction Also known as the “big death”This happened about 250 million years ago and destroyed two-thirds of the land’s and 96% of the sea creatures.
It is one of the three giant ichthyosaurs found in the Swiss Alps and is thought to have lived in the late Triassic 205 million years ago – producing some of the last such behemoths.
The team said the findings helped solve the mystery of whether giant ichthyosaurs, like some small creatures, have teeth.
Martin Sander, a professor at the University of Bonn, who co-authored the study, said: “This is all too little evidence.
“For a while we thought they had teeth. Then we thought, we never saw teeth. Now we have a giant and a giant tooth. So some of them have teeth.
Writing in Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology The team describes how fossils of three giant ichthyosaurs were discovered at different locations during the Kozhen formation between 1976 and 1990.
The fossil of one of the animals is an incomplete tooth 10 cm long. The team found that one large spine and rib fragments were related to another. The third fossil consists of seven large vertebrae. Sander said none of the remains appear to belong to the known Ichthyosaur race.
The tooth, which lacks much of its crown, is the second time it has come from a giant ichthyosaur, and the group says it is the largest ever found for such an organism, more than one species. HimalayasIt was discovered in China and is thought to have a body length of about 15 meters.
“Ichthyosaurs have a very characteristic dental structure that is visible at the root and in the crown,” Sander said, adding that the tooth giant found in the Alps may have eaten small ichthyosaurs and giant squid.
Sander said one of the creatures was the same size HimalayasThe other two, including the tooth beast, are similar to the giant ichthyosaur. Sastasaras, A creature previously found in British Columbia and it is about 21 meters long – two double decker bus lengths. “That skeleton had vertebrae of the same diameter that came from the Alps,” Sander said.
But they were not the greatest Igteos known to have lived. Among other finds, the toothless jawbone found in the Bristol Canal is thought to belong to the ichthyosaur, which is about 26 meters long.
When the Igdosers roamed the oceans, the newly announced remnants were once placed in a pond, which suggests that the animals went into shallow water. “A similar problem occurs when you get a sperm whale in the North Sea,” Sander said.
Dr. Ben Moon, an archaeologist at the University of Bristol who was not involved in the work, said the creatures may have entered shallow water for mating or birth. He said the new report is exciting as the fossils of giant ichthyosaurs are scarce.
Dr. Nick Fraser, an ancient researcher at the National Museums of Scotland, said it was difficult to determine the size of a giant ichthyosaur based on a tooth, but these findings shed new light on reptiles.
“Until now we suspected that most of the largest ichthyosaurs were toothless and sucking feeders,” he said, adding that the size of the newly announced tooth is astounding.
“The owner of this tooth should not be confused,” Fraser said. “In the past, with remnants of vertebrates and ribs, there was conclusive evidence that the Triassic water may have been as large as some real massive sea-going reptile, the living blue whale, and that some had large jaws with strong teeth.”
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