180 million-year-old fossil is 'sword dragon'

A NEAR-COMPLETE skeleton of a dolphin-sized prehistoric reptile that lived off the coast of Dorset 180 million years ago has been identified as a new and rare species named as a "sword dragon".

- BEN MITCHELL

Scientists say that the discovery of the ichthyosaur, called Xiphodracon goldencapensis or the "sword dragon of Dorset", helps to fill a gap in the evolutionary fossil record of the marine reptile.

The fossil, which included a skull with an "enormous" eye socket and a long sword-like snout, was found near Golden Cap in 2001 by Dorset fossil collector Chris Moore.

Until the latest research, the fossil had remained unstudied after being acquired by the Royal Ontario Museum, Canada.

The scientists say the animal would have been about three metres long and would have dined on fish and squid and would have lived in the Pliensbachian stage between 193 to 184 million years ago.

While thousands of ichthyosaur fossils have been found along Dorset’s Jurassic Coast, this is the first early Jurassic period ichthyosaur found in the area for more than 100 years.