It is different from any other known so far. It had a long neck and 12 meters long. The Cretaceous marine monster was baptized as Traskasaura Sandrae. He had heavy, sharp and robust teeth, ideal for crushing. The findings were published in the Journal of Systematic Paleontology. They highlight the strange combination of primitive and derived features, unique in any other similar species. This allowed this Plesiosaur to hunt prey from above. The fierce marine reptile was perhaps one of the first to do so.
85 million years of years are not new to science, much less. The first appeared in Rocks of the Upper Cretaceous in 1988 in Vancouver. The fossils became famous recently. They were declared as the official fossil emblem of British columbia.
Confusion
The identity of the animal that left fossils was a mystery. Scientific confusion is understandable. It presents a very strange mixture of primitive and derivative features. The shoulder, in particular, is different from any other Plesiosaur. He was appointed Traskasaura in honor of Michael and Heather back, residents of Courtenay, British Columbia. They discovered the original specimen on the banks of the Puntledge River in 1988. The Greek word Sauos, Lizard, adds to this.
The name of the species, Sandrae, honors Sandra Lee O'Keefe (single Markey). Like Elizabeth Nicholls (one of the members of the team that identified the fossil), who was "a brave warrior in the fight against breast cancer." "In your memory," writes the team of authors. Traskasaura clearly had a very long neck. They are at least 36 well -preserved cervical vertebrae indicate at least 50 bones in the neck, and probably more.
Hunter
It is not known much about the behavior of the Cretaceous marine monster. But the "fascinating and long list of autapomorphic characters" of the bones indicates a great ability to swim down. Researchers believe that the combination of their unusual characteristics is related to their hunting style. They suppose that he would use this ability to swim down to throw himself on his prey from above.
This dam is likely to be the abundant ammonites known in the region. These would have been a "good candidate due to the robust transkasaura teeth, ideal, possibly to crush ammonites shells," they explain.
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