Jurassic ‘sword dragon’ uncovered in England
The 95-mile-long Jurassic Coast off the southeast coast of England near Dorset continues to live up to its name. The UNESCO World Heritage Site has been the backdrop for dinosaur documentaries featuring beloved historian and naturalist Sir David Attenborough for his many discoveries, including the mighty Ichthyosaur. These prehistoric marine reptiles once roamed the ancient oceans and thousands of their fossils have been discovered in this one spot on English soil since the days of pioneering paleontologist Mary Anning.
Now, a nearly complete ichthyosaur skeleton recently discovered along the Jurassic Coast represents a new and rare species called Xiphodracon goldencapensis or “Dorset Sword Dragon”. The dolphin-sized reptile is the only known example of its type and helps fill important gaps in the fossil record. This is what is described in a study published this week in the journal Paleontology articles.
Dorset fossil collector Chris Moore discovered the skeleton. Remarkably, it is almost perfectly preserved in three dimensions. It features a skull with a huge eye socket and a long, sword-like snout and is believed to have been nearly 10 feet long. It probably survived on squid and fish, with traces of its last meal preserved inside the fossils.
“I remember seeing the skeleton for the first time in 2016,” study co-author and paleontologist Dr. Dean Lomax said in a statement. “At the time, I knew it was unusual, but I didn’t expect it to play such a crucial role in helping fill a gap in our understanding of complex faunal turnover during the Pliensbachian. This period is quite crucial for ichthyosaurs, as several families died out and new families emerged, but Xiphodracon is something you might call a “missing piece of the ichthyosaur puzzle.”
Ichthyosaurs from the Pliensbachian (around 193 to 184 million years ago) are incredibly rare and Xiphodracon is a vital piece of evidence for scientists studying the critical but poorly understood period of ichthyosaur evolution. One of Xiphodracon The most peculiar feature is a strange bone around the nostril – called lacrimal – with tooth-like bony structures.
“One of the most exciting things about identifying a new species is being able to name it!” said Loma, an ichthyosaur expert. “We opted for Xiphodracon because of the long sword-shaped snout (xipho from the Greek xiphos for sword) and the dracon (Greek and Latin for dragon) in reference to the ichthyosaurs called “sea dragons” for more than 200 years.
The Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada, plans to display the skeleton.
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