Prof Judy Massare, an ichthyosaur expert from State University of New York, praised the update but said there were still questions around the ichthyosaur species.
“Thousands of complete or nearly complete ichthyosaur skeletons are known from before and after the Pliensbachian.
“Clearly, a major change in species diversity occurred sometime in the Pliensbachian.”
She added: “Xiphodracon helps to determine when the change occurred, but we still don’t know why.”
Dr Lomax, whose new book The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs has been endorsed by the Guns N’ Roses guitarist, Slash, said: “One of the coolest things about identifying a new species is that you get to name it.
“We opted for xiphodracon because of the long, sword-like snout, and dracon in reference to ichthyosaurs being referred to as ‘sea dragons’ for over 200 years,” he said.
He explained the “xipho” portion of the title has been taken from the Greek word for sword, xiphos, and “dracon” comes from the Greek and Latin word for dragon.