{"id":88435,"date":"2025-09-27T08:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T08:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/88435\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T08:00:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T08:00:09","slug":"scientists-discover-ancient-new-ichthyosaur-species-in-germany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/88435\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Discover Ancient New Ichthyosaur Species in Germany"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"Eurhinosaurus<\/a>A commissioned artwork by Andrey Atuchin illustrates Eurhinosaurus mistelgauensis on a belemnite battleground. Credit: Andrey Atuchin
\nResearchers have identified a new ichthyosaur species from the Jurassic era.<\/p>\n

A team of researchers from Switzerland and Germany, led by Ga\u00ebl Spicher of the JURASSICA Museum in Porrentruy (Switzerland), has identified a previously unknown species of ichthyosaur. The discovery is based on fossil specimens preserved at the Urwelt-Museum Oberfranken in Bayreuth (Germany). Details of the work were published in Fossil Record, the open-access journal of the Museum f\u00fcr Naturkunde Berlin.<\/p>\n

The newly recognized species has been named Eurhinosaurus mistelgauensis, a reference to the Mistelgau clay pit in Upper Franconia. This location is renowned for producing significant fossil discoveries. \u201cWe wanted to highlight the scientific importance of the Mistelgau locality,\u201d explains lead author and doctoral student Ga\u00ebl Spicher.<\/p>\n

Fossil Excavations at Mistelgau<\/p>\n

Excavations in the clay pit have been conducted regularly since 1998 by the Urwelt-Museum Oberfranken, which recovered and prepared the fossils prior to their scientific study. One specimen originates from a so-called \u201cbelemnite battleground\u201d \u2013 dense accumulations of Jurassic cephalopod remains that are characteristic of the site.<\/p>\n

\"Eurhinosaurus<\/a>Eurhinosaurus mistelgauensis specimen from the Urwelt-Museum Oberfranken on a belemnite battleground. The fossil plate is about 4 m long. Credit; Spicher et al.<\/p>\n

Ichthyosaurs \u2013 marine reptiles that lived during the time of the dinosaurs \u2013 show striking similarities in body shape to dolphins or tuna. The newly described species shares the elongation of the upper jaw typical for eurhinosaurs, producing a pronounced \u201coverbite\u201d similar to that of modern swordfish. Eurhinosaurus mistelgauensis differs from previously known species by its notably robust ribs and special features in the joint connecting the skull and the neck.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe naming of a new species emphasizes the significance of the Urwelt-Museum Oberfranken\u2019s fossil collections for understanding Jurassic marine ecosystems,\u201d says museum director Dr. Serjoscha Evers, who was not involved in the study. \u201cThe Mistelgau site continues to provide rare insights into a time period that is otherwise scarcely documented worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Further studies on the Mistelgau material are in preparation. These include analyses of injuries preserved in the ichthyosaur skeletons, which may shed light on the ecology and life history of these ancient marine reptiles.<\/p>\n

Reference: \u201cA new Eurhinosaurus (Ichthyosauria) species from the Lower Jurassic (Toarcian) of Mistelgau (Bavaria, Southern Germany)\u201d by Ga\u00ebl E. Spicher, Feiko Miedema, Jelle Heijne and Nicole Klein, 25 September 2025, Fossil Record.
DOI: 10.3897\/fr.28.154203<\/a><\/p>\n

Never miss a breakthrough: Join the SciTechDaily newsletter.<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A commissioned artwork by Andrey Atuchin illustrates Eurhinosaurus mistelgauensis on a belemnite battleground. Credit: Andrey Atuchin Researchers have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[18,8399,57976,19,17,12151,57977,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-88435","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-fossils","10":"tag-ichthyosaurs","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-paleontology","14":"tag-pensoft-publishers","15":"tag-science"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}