Two individuals of Traskasaura sandrae hunt a Pachydiscus ammonite in the North Pacific Ocean during the late Cretaceous. Traskasaura sandrae, mentioned in a recent publication in the Journal of Systematic Paleontology, was designated as the provincial fossil of British Columbia in 2023. (Image courtesy of Robert O. Clark)
Researchers have finally solved the mystery of the identity of a prehistoric sea creature.
This marine reptile, which could reach lengths of about 39 feet (12 meters) and had strong teeth for tearing apart its prey, was known from several fossils found over the past twenty years.
One important fossil was a nearly complete, though poorly preserved, skeleton of an adult about 85 million years old, discovered in 1988 on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. It was thought to belong to a group of long-necked reptiles known as plesiosaurs. However, scientists were still unsure whether it was a new species or an already known one.
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