Academics in skeleton find breakthrough
Remains, including a jawbone and teeth, were found by an amateur palaeontologist near Peterborough in the early 1900s and were held by Glasgow University’s Hunterian Museum.
But now a team of experts from Edinburgh University has identified the species, which will help studies into how marine reptiles were evolving about 165 million years ago.
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Hide AdIt has named the animal Tyrannoneustes lythrodectikos, which means “blood-biting tyrant swimmer”.
The team believes the predator, which had pointed teeth and a large jaw, would have fed on large prey.
Lead researcher Dr Mark Young, of the university’s school of geosciences, said: “It is satisfying to be able to classify a specimen that has been unexamined for more than 100 years, and doubly so to find that this discovery improves our understanding of the evolution of marine reptiles.”