Strange fossilized bones excavated in Colombia in 1999 have finally been identified as a completely new species of sea monster.
According to Sci-News, the new sea monster has been named Platypterygius elsuntuoso – a member of Ophthalmosauridae, a family of ichthyosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
The sea monster Platypterygius elsuntuoso is a Jurassic ichthyosaur – (Graphic: Earth Sciences Research Journal).
Previously, these fossilized bones, dating back up to 125 million years, were excavated by the Colombian Geobiology Organization in 1999.
The bones are unlike anything ever found before, puzzling scientists until recently when a research team from the National University of Colombia and the National Geological Museum José Royo y Gómez decided to analyze them.
The meticulous process of matching and cross-referencing helped confirm that it is a completely new species, as well as providing insights into the animal’s family tree.
Scientists have yet to determine the specific size of this sea monster.
Meanwhile, the collected bones include a nearly complete skull, several axial components such as cervical vertebrae, and a few other cervical vertebrae… all belonging to a single individual, which was either juvenile or nearly adult.
Excavated fossil parts – (Photo: Earth Sciences Research Journal).
The specimen was found in a concretion on La Cabrera hill, located in the Northwest of the Villa de Leiva area in Boyacá province, Central Colombia. Geological signs suggest that the animal likely died elsewhere and was carried here by ancient water currents.
Other members of the Platypterygius genus of this sea monster have also been found in various locations around the world, indicating that this genus and, more broadly, the entire ichthyosaur family once had a widespread community globally.
Like most land dinosaurs, ichthyosaurs – also known as fish lizards – became most diverse and abundant during the Cretaceous period.
However, like the dinosaurs, this lineage of sea monsters, along with other giant marine reptiles like mosasaurs, completely vanished after the Chicxulub asteroid disaster.
The discovery of this new sea monster species has been published in the scientific journal Earth Sciences Research Journal.
