Dorset’s Jurrasic Coast has proven to be aptly named once again as a brand new species has been identified.
Scientists found the near-complete skeleton of a prehistoric reptile that would have lived off the Dorset coast 180million years ago.
The creature, roughly the same size as a dolphin, has been named the Xiphodracon goldencapensis or the ‘sword dragon of Dorset’.
And palaeontologists say its identification helps to fill a gap in the evolution of marine reptiles.
The fossil was first found by Chris Moore, an avid fossil collector, in 2001. It was found at Golden Cap, a hill and cliff on located between Bridport and Charmouth.
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It was acquired by the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada and remained unstudied until now.
The scientists say the animal would have been about three metres long, would have dined on fish and squid, and would have lived in the Pliensbachian stage between 193-184million years ago.
The sword dragon’s fossil is notable for featuring an ‘enormous’ eye socket and a long sword-like snout.
While thousands of ichthyosaur fossils have been found along Dorset’s Jurassic Coast, this is the first early Jurassic period ichthyosaur found in the area for more than 100 years.
The finding has been described in the journal Papers in Palaeontology today by researchers led by ichthyosaur expert Dr Dean Lomax, an honorary research fellow at the University of Manchester and an 1851 research fellow at the University of Bristol.
Dr Lomax said: “I remember seeing the skeleton for the first time in 2016.
‘Back then, I knew it was unusual, but I did not expect it to play such a pivotal role in helping to fill a gap in our understanding of a complex faunal turnover during the Pliensbachian.
‘This time is pretty crucial for ichthyosaurs as several families went extinct and new families emerged, yet Xiphodracon is something you might call a missing piece of the ichthyosaur puzzle.
‘It is more closely related to species in the later Early Jurassic (in the Toarcian), and its discovery helps pinpoint when the faunal turnover occurred, being much earlier than expected.
‘One of the coolest things about identifying a new species is that you get to name it.
‘We opted for Xiphodracon because of the long, sword-like snout (xipho from Greek xiphos for sword) and dracon (Greek and Latin for dragon) in reference to ichthyosaurs being referred to as sea dragons for over 200 years.’
Co-author Professor Judy Massare, from the State University of New York at Brockport, said: ‘Thousands of complete or nearly complete ichthyosaur skeletons are known from strata before and after the Pliensbachian.
‘The two faunas are quite distinct, with no species in common, even though the overall ecology is similar.
‘Clearly, a major change in species diversity occurred sometime in the Pliensbachian. Xiphodracon helps to determine when the change occurred, but we still don’t know why.”
Dr Erin Maxwell, a co-author and ichthyosaur expert from the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, added: ‘This skeleton provides critical information for understanding ichthyosaur evolution, but also contributes to our understanding of what life must have been like in the Jurassic seas of Britain.
“The limb bones and teeth are malformed in such a way that points to serious injury or disease while the animal was still alive, and the skull appears to have been bitten by a large predator – likely another much larger species of ichthyosaur – giving us a cause of death for this individual.
‘Life in the Mesozoic oceans was a dangerous prospect.’
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