A group of paleontologists headed by Dr Steve Brusatte of National Museums Scotland and the University of Edinburgh has discovered a new genus and species of ichthyosaur that inhabited warm, shallow seas around what is now Scotland during the Jurassic period, between 177 million – 169 million years ago.
A school of ichthyosaurs. Image credit: Dmitry Bogdanov / CC BY 3.0.
“During the time of dinosaurs, the waters of Scotland were prowled by big reptiles the size of motor boats. Their fossils are very rare, and only now, for the first time we’ve found a new species that was uniquely Scottish,” said Dr Brusatte, who is the first author of a paper published in the Scottish Journal of Geology.
The newfound species, named Dearcmhara shawcrossi, was a 4-meter long aquatic dolphin-like reptile. It was near the top of the food chain and preyed on fish and other reptiles.
Its specific name, shawcrossi, honors Brian Shawcross, an amateur enthusiast who recovered the creature’s fossils from Bearreraig Bay on the Isle of Skye, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, in 1959.
“Dearcmhara – pronounced ‘jark vara’ – is Scottish Gaelic for marine lizard, and pays homage to the history of Skye and the Hebrides,” the paleontologists said.
“The species is one of the few to have ever been given a Gaelic name.”
They added: “it is likely that the specimens originate from the Bearreraig Sandstone Formation, assuming that the specimens were not transported to Bearreraig Bay from elsewhere by longshore drift.”
During the Jurassic period, much of Skye was under water. At the time, it was joined to the rest of what is now the United Kingdom and was part of a large island positioned between landmasses that gradually drifted apart and became Europe and North America.
“Skye is one of the few places in the world where fossils from the Middle Jurassic can be found,” the scientists said.
“Discoveries made there could provide valuable insights into how marine reptiles evolved.”
_____
Stephen L. Brusatte et al. Ichthyosaurs from the Jurassic of Skye, Scotland. Scottish Journal of Geology, published online January 11, 2015; doi: 10.1144/sjg2014-018
