Apparently the legendary Scottish Loch Ness monster has come up with a real competitor. A team of paleontologists led by the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) has discovered on the Scottish island of Skye, the fossil fragments of a new species of marine reptile from the Jurassic era. These new giant dolphin-like creatures would have lived in the warm, shallow seas of Scotland about 170 million years ago . The find has been published in the Scottish Journal of Geology .
Scientists investigated fossil fragments of teeth, vertebrae, skulls and even an upper fin bone that had been unearthed on this Scottish island over the past 50 years. The analysis of these fragments has revealed that this type of reptile would have measured about 14 meters long and was very close to the top of the food chain in Jurassic times, that is, a considerable size predator that fed so much from other smaller reptiles like fish .
“During the time of the dinosaurs, large reptiles the size of a speedboat roamed the waters of Scotland. Their fossils are very rare , and only now, for the first time, have we found a new uniquely Scottish species , ”explains Steve Brusatte, co-author of the study.
The new species has been named Dearcmhara shawcrossi in honor of the paleontologist Brian Shawcross, who recovered the fossils of this creature in 1959. And, according to experts, “This is not only a very special discovery, but also marks the the beginning of a major new collaboration involving some of Scotland’s most eminent paleontologists … We are already working on additional new finds, ” says Nick Fraser, National Museums of Scotland. So we should not be surprised to obtain new discoveries in the near future.
