A second two-meter-long ichthyosaur jawbone found in Somerset, UK, has revealed a brand-new giant types, Ichthyotitan severnensis, dating back 202 million years, including significant insight into Triassic marine giants. Ruby, then aged 11, discovered the very first portion of huge bone before browsing together for extra pieces.Photograph of the almost complete giant jawbone, along with a comparison with the 2018 bone (middle and bottom) discovered by Paul de la Salle.” Reference: “The last giants: New proof for giant Late Triassic (Rhaetian) ichthyosaurs from the UK” by Dean R. Lomax, Paul de la Salle, Marcello Perillo, Justin Reynolds, Ruby Reynolds and James F. Waldron, 17 April 2024, PLOS ONE.DOI: 10.1371/ journal.pone.0300289.
A second two-meter-long ichthyosaur jawbone discovered in Somerset, UK, has unveiled a new huge species, Ichthyotitan severnensis, dating back 202 million years, including significant insight into Triassic marine giants. Ruby, then aged 11, found the first chunk of huge bone before browsing together for extra pieces.Photograph of the almost complete huge jawbone, along with a contrast with the 2018 bone (middle and bottom) discovered by Paul de la Salle. Today, these bones represent the extremely last of their kind.Ichthyotitan is not the worlds first giant ichthyosaur, but de la Salles and Reynolds discoveries are distinct amongst those understood to science. His work validated the ichthyosaur origin of the bones and exposed that the animal was still growing at the time of death.He said: “We might validate the special set of histological characters typical of giant ichthyosaur lower jaws: the anomalous periosteal growth of these bones hints at yet-to-be-understood bone developmental strategies, now lost in the deep time, that likely permitted late Triassic ichthyosaurs to reach the known biological limits of vertebrates in terms of size.” Reference: “The last giants: New evidence for giant Late Triassic (Rhaetian) ichthyosaurs from the UK” by Dean R. Lomax, Paul de la Salle, Marcello Perillo, Justin Reynolds, Ruby Reynolds and James F. Waldron, 17 April 2024, PLOS ONE.DOI: 10.1371/ journal.pone.0300289.
