WEB DESK: A remarkable fossil discovery by 15-year-old Ruby Reynolds in the UK has unveiled a new species of giant sea reptile, estimated to have reached lengths exceeding 25 meters.
In May 2020, Ruby, then just 11-years-old, alongside her father Justin Reynolds, stumbled upon the initial pieces of a sea reptile’s jaw bone on the shores of Blue Anchor, Somerset. This chance find eventually led to the unearthing of a massive jawbone spanning over two meters in length, followed by the recovery of additional fragments that, over time, pieced together a remarkable prehistoric puzzle.
“When Ruby and I found the first two pieces, we were very excited as we realized that this was something important and unusual,” expressed Mr. Reynolds.
The culmination of the fossil search in October 2022 revealed the existence of a new species of ichthyosaur, dubbed Ichthyotitan severnensis, aptly named to signify its enormity and geographical origin.
Dean Lomax, a palaeontologist at The University of Manchester, remarked, “This new specimen is more complete, better preserved, and shows that we now have two of these giant bones that have a unique shape and structure.”
Ruby, now a published scientist at just 15, shared her pride in contributing to this scientific breakthrough.
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Further analysis indicated that the bones date back approximately 202 million years, suggesting that these colossal reptiles once roamed the seas during the Rhaetian period, coinciding with the Late Triassic global mass extinction event.
The rarity of the discovery is underscored by the fact that these giant ichthyosaurs likely faced extinction shortly after the period represented by the recovered fossils, marking them as among the last of their kind.
Researchers noted the uniqueness of the new species, particularly its emergence approximately 13 million years after its closest geological relatives, such as Shonisaurus sikanniensis from British Columbia and Himalayasaurus tibetensis from Tibet.
