NEW DELHI: For the first time in the fossil history of India, the remains of a 150 million-year-old marine reptile have been discovered in Kutch in Gujarat via a group of Indian and German scientists. The discovery of the Five.Five-metre reptile is predicted to supply some insights into the variety and evolution of marine reptiles in the Indian subcontinent. Until now, no Jurassic technology ichthyosaur fossils had been reported found in India.
The fossil used to be chanced upon all through regimen exploration in the Kutch region and the excavation of the skeleton took over 1,500 man-hours. The specimen is whole except for the posterior part of the skull, hind fins and posterior tail bones. Ichthyosaurs have been huge reptiles that resembled sharks and whales in their body form and shaped a very powerful part of vertebrate life in the seas between 250 and 90 million years in the past, at a time dinosaurs have been ruling the land and pterosaurs the air.
Based on a morphological learn about of snout, forefins, tail and vertebrae, the 152 million-year-old skeleton is known with the Ophthalmosauridae, a circle of relatives of ichthyosaurs that lived in the oceans between 165 million and 90 million years in the past.
The discovery via the group led via Professor Guntupalli V R Prasad of Delhi University's division of geology is detailed in a paper titled 'Discovery of the First Ichthyosaur from the Jurassic of India: Implications for Gondwana Palaeobiogeography' published in the newest issue of PLOS ONE.
Members of the group incorporated Professor D Okay Pandey of Manipal University, India, Dr Matthias Alberti of Institut fur Geowissenschaften, Christian-Albrechts-Universitat zu Berlin, Germany, Professor Franz T Fursich, GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Friedrich-Alexander-Universitat-Erlangen-Nurnberg, Germany, and Professor Mahesh G Thakkar and Gaurav Chauhan of Kachchh University's division of earth and environmental sciences.
"The new find is very important because it is the first fossil ichthyosaur from the Jurassic rocks of India and is expected to provide insights into the diversity and evolution of marine reptiles in the Indian subcontinent and the former Gondwanaland," stated Prasad. Prior to the current to find, such fossils have been known simplest from a couple of fragmentary and remoted remains (vertebrae and tooth) reported from 100 million-year-old rocks of the Cauvery basin in south India.
The fossil used to be chanced upon all through regimen exploration in the Kutch region and the excavation of the skeleton took over 1,500 man-hours. The specimen is whole except for the posterior part of the skull, hind fins and posterior tail bones. Ichthyosaurs have been huge reptiles that resembled sharks and whales in their body form and shaped a very powerful part of vertebrate life in the seas between 250 and 90 million years in the past, at a time dinosaurs have been ruling the land and pterosaurs the air.
Based on a morphological learn about of snout, forefins, tail and vertebrae, the 152 million-year-old skeleton is known with the Ophthalmosauridae, a circle of relatives of ichthyosaurs that lived in the oceans between 165 million and 90 million years in the past.
The discovery via the group led via Professor Guntupalli V R Prasad of Delhi University's division of geology is detailed in a paper titled 'Discovery of the First Ichthyosaur from the Jurassic of India: Implications for Gondwana Palaeobiogeography' published in the newest issue of PLOS ONE.
Members of the group incorporated Professor D Okay Pandey of Manipal University, India, Dr Matthias Alberti of Institut fur Geowissenschaften, Christian-Albrechts-Universitat zu Berlin, Germany, Professor Franz T Fursich, GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Friedrich-Alexander-Universitat-Erlangen-Nurnberg, Germany, and Professor Mahesh G Thakkar and Gaurav Chauhan of Kachchh University's division of earth and environmental sciences.
"The new find is very important because it is the first fossil ichthyosaur from the Jurassic rocks of India and is expected to provide insights into the diversity and evolution of marine reptiles in the Indian subcontinent and the former Gondwanaland," stated Prasad. Prior to the current to find, such fossils have been known simplest from a couple of fragmentary and remoted remains (vertebrae and tooth) reported from 100 million-year-old rocks of the Cauvery basin in south India.
Remains of 150 million-year-old marine reptile found in Kutch
![Remains of 150 million-year-old marine reptile found in Kutch]()
Reviewed by Kailash
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October 26, 2017
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