![\"Eurhinosaurus](\"https:\/\/cdn.sci.news\/images\/enlarge13\/image_14244e-Eurhinosaurus-mistelgauensis.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nEurhinosaurus mistelgauensis. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin.<\/p>\n
\u201cIchthyosauria is a diverse group of reptiles well-adapted to marine life that thrived from the Early Triassic to the early Late Cretaceous,\u201d said lead author Dr. Ga\u00ebl Spicher, a researcher at the JURASSICA Museum, the University of Fribourg and the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universit\u00e4t Bonn, and his colleagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cIchthyosaurs exhibit morphological features such as limbs modified into fins, elongated snouts, deeply amphicoelous vertebrae, and the development of a tail fin that shows that they were fully adapted to aquatic life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIchthyosaurs had a cosmopolitan distribution during their entire existence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSouthern Germany, especially, is famous for its extensive record of fossil ichthyosaurs from the Lower Jurassic, mainly the Posidonienschiefer Formation, which has yielded thousands of specimens.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAmong these Lower Jurassic ichthyosaurs, Eurhinosaurus is a relatively rare faunal component,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIts paleogeographic distribution is restricted to what is today Europe, with fossil evidence from Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Luxembourg, and Switzerland.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis genus is notable for its distinctive elongated and slender snout with an extreme overbite by having the mandible drastically shorter than the upper jaw (more than 60%).\u201d<\/p>\n
The newly-described Eurhinosaurus species shares the elongation of the upper jaw typical for its genus.<\/p>\n
Named Eurhinosaurus mistelgauensis, it lived during the Jurassic period, around 180 million years ago.<\/p>\n
Three specimens of the new species were discovered in the Mistelgau clay pit, part of the Jurensismergel Formation southwest of Bayreuth in northern Bavaria, Germany.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fossils include two nearly complete skeletons and a partial snout, preserved three-dimensionally in a semi-articulated state, with elements exposed in multiple orientations,\u201d the paleontologists said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir preservation is exceptional, presenting the bones in three dimensions, which is extremely rare and underlines the importance of describing the specimens.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the authors, these specimens represent the youngest stratigraphic occurrence of the Eurhinosaurus genus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese well-preserved fossils from Mistelgau further provide valuable insights into Eurhinosaurus morphology and significantly contribute to our understanding of this historically important ichthyosaur,\u201d they concluded.<\/p>\n