Plesiosaurs are famous for their slender necks, and because their food is small fish and shrimp, they are not terrible predators. Paleontologists have discovered a plesiosaur with a short, thick neck in Britain, but it was the top predator in the early Jurassic oceans!
The Marquis's big baby
In 19th-century Britain, aristocrats and wealthy people were keen to collect all kinds of rare treasures, including fossils. The Marquess of Normanby was one such collector who collected the fossils he had bought at great expense in mulgrave castle to show off to his friends.
Pictorial note: Marquis of Normanby in the 19th century, picture from the Internet
Caption: Malgrave Castle, image from the web
In July 1848, a fossil of a large marine reptile was found in an alum quarry near Whitby, Yorkshire, and the Marquis of Normandy, who had received the news, immediately bought the fossil at great expense and transported it to Margrave Castle. Five years later, in 1853, the Marquis of Normanby invited the Irish surgeon and anatomist Sir Philip Crampton to Visit Margrave Castle, where Crompton noticed fossils from Whitby.
Image note: Jurassic formation on the coast of Whitby, image from the web
Photo note: Philip Crampton, Irish surgeon and anatomist, image from the web
Crampton was fascinated by the fossils, and he managed to persuade the Marquis of Normanby to transport the fossils to Dublin to be publicly displayed at the annual meeting of the British Association. Because the fossils were so large, the Zoological Society of Ireland also decorated a showroom specifically for fossil expansions.
The annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science was held as scheduled, and scholars were attracted by the huge fossils, which were not transported back to England after the annual meeting, but remained in the royal dublin society museum in Dublin. The museum's staff, Alexander Carte and W. Bailey, were staffed by Alexander Carte and W. Bailey. h. bailey) initially studied the fossils and thought they belonged to the genus plesiosaurus, so in gratitude to Kalampton for bringing the fossils to Dublin, they named the plesiosaurus cramptoni.
Photo note: The fossil of Linglong in the British Museum of Natural History, picture from the Internet
Photo note: Paleontologist Harry Sealy, image from the web
In 1874, the famous geologist and paleontologist Harry G. Seeley saw the fossil of Plesiosaurus carinisa, and based on experience, he judged that the fossil represented a completely new species, so he named it rhomaleosaurus, which means "strong lizard".
Short-necked plesiosaur
Rhodiola belongs to the suborder Plesiosaurs, and its neck appears thick and short compared to its long-necked relatives. The dragon can reach 7 meters in length and weigh about 1.5 tons, as its name originally meant, it is a strong guy.
Image note: Rhombus and human body size comparison, picture from the network
Figure note: Linglong's skeletal line diagram, picture from the network
The dragon has a large flat, broad head with eyes on either side of the top of its head and nostrils not far in front of its eyes. There are sharp teeth in the mouth of the dragon, these teeth are long and curved, and when the mouth of the dragon is closed, the upper and lower teeth are staggered and bitten together, which is quite frightening.
Although short and thick, the neck of the dragon is still flexible and powerful, and behind the neck is a wide body and a short tail. On both sides of the body of the dragon there are two pairs of leaf-like flippers, and it is by relying on the large fin-like limbs that the dragon can swim quickly in the ocean and chase its prey.
Image note: A restoration of Linglong, the picture comes from the network
The Sea King of the Early Jurassic
Rhodiolas lived between 183 million and 170 million years ago during the Early Jurassic period, when fossils were first found in the Whitby mudstone formation, the geological period toarcian. In addition to the model species , " Diplodocus " , paleontologists have discovered three other species in the genus " " , namely : r. propinquus、r. thorntoni、r. zetlandicus。
Illustration: The early Jurassic shallow sea where the dragon swims, pay attention to the crocodiles nearby, the picture comes from the internet
Rhodiola was the top killer in the early Jurassic ocean, feeding mainly on other plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs and large fish, judging from the position of the eyes, the dragon would lurk on the seabed or in deep waters waiting for opportunities. When prey passes overhead, the rhombus will launch a surprise attack from below.
Paleontologists have found that there are complex structures in the nasal cavity of the skull of The Dragon, and when there is water flowing into the nasal cavity, powerful olfactory receptors are able to capture the smell, so as to discern the taste of prey and determine the orientation, which is really a very powerful ability, especially in low visibility, such as at night.
Picture note: There is a mystery hidden in the skull of the dragon, and the picture comes from the Internet
Ichthyosaurs are the main prey of Rhododendron, and the image comes from the Internet
As the short neck of the plesiosaur family, the Linglong was the earliest shallow sea overlord in the Jurassic, announcing the dominance of the plesiosaurs over the ocean!
Resources:
1.adam s. smith & gareth j. dyke (2008). "the skull of the giant predatory pliosaur rhomaleosaurus cramptoni: implications for plesiosaur phylogenetics" (pdf). naturwissenschaften. 95 (10): 975–980. bibcode:2008nw..... 95..975s. doi:10.1007/s00114-008-0402-z. pmid 18523747.
2.roger b. j. benson, hilary f. ketchum, leslie f. noè and marcela gómez-pérez (2011). "new information on hauffiosaurus (reptilia, plesiosauria) based on a new species from the alum shale member (lower toarcian: lower jurassic) of yorkshire, uk" (pdf). palaeontology. 54 (3): 547–571. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2011.01044.x.
Image / Network (Intrusion and Deletion)
Text / Paleontological Exploration (Jiang Hong)
Typography / Paleontological exploration