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With sharp, conical teeth set inside a long, pointy snout, large flippers and tail fin, the giant marine reptile has been likened to a monstrous dolphin.
Now, in outback Queensland, paleontologist Kevin Petersen has stumbled across a 112-million-year-old fossil of the large ‘sea lizard’ which once thrived in the Great Artesian Basin.
A chunk of the creature’s jaw was discovered sticking out of the ground in the fossil-rich region of Richmond, in Queensland’s north-west.
The ichthyosaur was a marine reptile not unlike a giant dolphin. (Supplied: Kronosaurus Korner)
“What’s special about this find is that the snout and jaw we found were extremely intact and these were significant pieces,” said Rob Ievers, founder of leading fossil museum Kronosaurus Korner, in Richmond.
“It’s about one metre long, so this was one of the larger marine reptiles; probably something like five or six metres in length,” Mr Ievers said of the fossil which is being prepared for display in the Kronosaurus Korner museum.
The bone had to be covered in plaster to remove it from the ground before being transferred to the Richmond museum.
An ichthyosaur had sharp, conical teeth set inside a long, pointy snout. (Supplied: Australian Museum)
“The thing that’s great about this museum is that all of our fossils are originals, we don’t use models. It’s a big highlight for people that come to visit the region,” Mr Ievers said.
Ichthyosaurs were marine predators with a large trunk body that would have allowed them to move through the water at high speeds.
Their long snouts and many sharp teeth came in handy when feeding on fish and cephalopods.
They had the largest eyes of any vertebrate which came in handy for spotting any lurking plesiosaurs, thought to prey on the Ichthyosaur.
Famous fossils
Parts of the north-west are renowned for their rich fossil deposits of mostly marine animals that once flourished in Queensland’s inland sea.
Founder of Kronosaurus Korner Rob Ievers assisted with the dig. (Supplied: Kronosaurus Korner)
A 1989 discovery put Richmond on the map after a then-20-year-old Mr Ievers uncovered a dinosaur.
It was later identified that the fossil, coined Kunbarrasaurus ieversi, was the only one of its kind ever discovered.
Since then, the region has been home to an array of remarkable finds such as Australia’s largest “dragon” and a rare dinosaur-bird.
“The quality of the fossils that you take out of the ground in this region is incomparable.
“I don’t care where you go in the world, you will not find any better preserved fossils in the world; some of this stuff looks like it died yesterday,” Mr Ievers said.