Jurassic 'sword lizard' discovery may unlock an evolutionary puzzle.

The ichthyosaur remain was unearthed back in 2001 but has been examined only in recent times.(Image credit: Dean Lomax, Judy Massare, and Erin Maxwell)

A nearly total skeletal fossil discovered along the Jurassic Coast of the U.K. signifies a newly determined type of ancient sea reptile that existed alongside the dinosaurs.

The ichthyosaur, given the name Xiphodracon goldencapsis, probably measured around 10 feet (3 meters) when alive, as stated in a study released this past Friday (Oct. 10) in the publication Papers in Palaeontology. It featured sizable eye cavities in addition to an elongated, slender snout shaped similarly to a blade.

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Fossil seeker Chris Moore located the remnants in 2001 off the Jurassic Coast, a 96-mile (154 kilometers) section of coastland within Dorset famed for being an abundant source of fossils.

Moore subsequently traded the fossil to the Royal Ontario Museum within Canada shortly after its discovery. While it had been labeled an ichthyosaur, it wasn’t subjected to thorough examination until recently.

“I recall observing the skeleton initially in 2016,” shared study co-author Dean Lomax, a paleontologist working at the University of Manchester and the University of Bristol, through a formal statement. “At the time, I was aware it stood out, though I didn’t foresee it playing such an essential role in aiding the process of completing a gap within our comprehension of a multifaceted faunal shift throughout the Pliensbachian.”

The ichthyosaur appears to have sustained a bite injury to the head inflicted by a more massive predator, and displayed misshapen bones and dentition signifying considerable injury or disease.

The new genus designation, Xiphodracon, originates from the Greek phrases “xiphos,” denoting sword, and “dracon,” alluding to dragon — paying tribute to ichthyosaurs’ commonly known term of “sea dragons.” Its species designation, “goldencapsis,” comes from Golden Cap, the precise location along the Jurassic Coast in which the ichthyosaur was discovered.

The fossil likewise gives clues as to how the particular ichthyosaur existed and met its end.

“The skeletal and dental structure are deformed in such a way indicating severe injury or disease while the creature remained living, and the cranium seems to show it suffered a bite from a sizable predator — most likely another substantially larger variety of ichthyosaur — thus offering us insight as to the cause of death pertaining to this specific individual,” elaborated study co-author Erin Maxwell, curator of fossil aquatic vertebrates at the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart in Germany, through the statement. “Existence in the Mesozoic waters presented a perilous outlook.”