Get the latest tech news

Fossils found in Somerset by girl, 11, 'may be of largest-ever marine reptile'

Experts believe remains belong to a type of ichthyosaur that roamed the seas about 202m years ago

“This giant probably represents the largest marine reptile formally described,” said Dr Dean Lomax, a palaeontologist at the University of Bristol and co-author of the research, adding that comparisons with fossils from other ichthyosaurs suggested the creature would have been about 25 metres in length – about the size of a blue whale. Among those who also joined the hunt was Paul de la Salle, an expert from the Museum of Jurassic Marine Life in Dorset who in 2016 had discovered a jawbone from what appeared to be a new species of ichthyosaur at a beach in Somerset. Dr Nick Fraser, a palaeontologist at National Museums Scotland, who was not involved in the study, said the identification of the bone as part of the lower jaw from an ichthyosaur was very convincing.

Get the Android app