Robert O. Clark
Two individuals of Traskasaurae Sandrae hunt the ammonitis Pachydiscus in the North Pacific during the Superior Cretaceous
This creature was unlike anything scientists had seen before. Now we know what it was.
A bizarre ancient marine reptile was formally identified – decades after their fossils were first discovered in Canada.
The 12 meter creature, Traskasaurae Sandraeit was a long neck plesioseur – a type of predator who lived alongside the dinosaurs – with a bizarre anatomy and a rare hunting style from top to bottom.
The discovery, presented in a recently published in the Journal of Systematic Paleontologydescribes the Trapasaura as having a strange stroke primitive and derivativesunlike any other elasmsaur.
“The fact that you have some very strange characteristics – It was an animal with a very weird look – made it virtually impossible for the researchers of the time to decide what it was and who was related, ”the paleontologist told the paleontologist F Robin O’Keeferesearcher at Marshall University and main author of the study.
The first fossil was discovered in 1988 along the Puntledge River on the island of Vancouver after staying on the ground during 85 million years. It was remarkably complete – skull, neck, limbs, and tail – but degraded on one side.
“It seemed good at a distance,” said O’Keefe, “but the closer one came, the sadder it became – as melted ice cream. This made it almost impossible to identify you. ”
Only when A second youth skeleton It was unearthed is that things began to make sense. “It was very well preserved, and this allowed us to check some of the strange characteristics of the adult fossil to understand what we were seeing,” said O’keefe. “It was the addition of this second skeleton that made it possible assign this thing to a new species“.
The Courtenay and District Museum and Palaeontology Centre
The fossilized remains of a young traskasaura young man helped scientists identify the new species
Among its many strangeness is shoulder structurewhich opens down – unlike any other known pleasiosurus.
Your fins, however, have the shape of inverted airplane wingswith the more curved surface at the bottom instead of the upper. “This helped to accentuate the upward movement when I dived,” says O’keefe. This is significant because it suggests that the Trapasaura hunted in a very unusual way: Downing over your prey from above.
“If we think of reptiles to swim in the water, The light always comes from aboveso the animals tend to hunt up because they are looking at the prey Silhouetted against light on the surface, ”said O’keefe.“ This animal didn’t do that. ”
Yours prey probably included ammonites – extinct relatives of rolled shells of modern squid and octopus – which would have crushed with their heavy and sharp teeth.
Despite your threatening size and terrifying appearanceo Trapasaura It was by no means the top predator of the ancient oceans. “It was greatBut I didn’t have a very large neck or head, ”said O’Keefe.“ So if a mosasauro with large teeth caught him, he could have shattered him. ”
Still, the Trapasaura probably They were going through a good bitwith abundance of food in the ocean at that time. But it wouldn’t last. Like all pleasiosaurs, the species found its end in mass extinction about 66 million years ago.
“They were doing very well, the ecosystem was relatively healthy, and then An asteroid hits and kills all large animals“Said O’keefe.
