I love dinosaurs, but I like Mesozoic marine reptiles too.
I also like crazy names for fossilized animals. Meet, Guizhouichthyosaurus, a fifteen-foot-long ichthyosaur. It had a body shaped like a tuna but breathed air like a dolphin. It swam in the ocean in the early Triassic, 240 million years ago.
This animal was thought to be an apex predator, and in 2010 fossilized proof was found in Guizhou province, China. Within the abdomen of the Guizhouichthyosaurus, paleontologists found smaller bones belonging to a 12-foot long thalattosaur, Xinpusaurus xingyiensis. This marine reptile was more lizard-like and had four paddling limbs.
Very often in paleontology, entire ecosystems are interpreted from just a few bones. That is why complete finds like this hungry ichthyosaur’s last meal are so important. It was thought that mega-predators that ate large prey had long sharp teeth. However, Guizhouichthyosaurus had short peg-like teeth. Thus a new interpretation of predation needs to be examined. One more piece added to a puzzle with many missing pieces.