A partial skeleton found in the formation of Fernie in British Columbia, in Canada, in 1916 represents a new genus and species of an extinguished sea reptile called ichthyosaurus, according to an international team of paleontologists.
Interpretative photography and drawing of Fernatator of praiseskeleton in the left side view. Image credit: Massare and al.
Fernatator of praise lived in North America at the start of the Jurassic era, about 190 million years ago.
“The ichthyosaurs – the marine reptiles superficially resembling the dolphins – were important marine predators of the first Triassic (Olenekian) at the start of the upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian),” said Professor Judy Massare of Sany College in Brockport and his colleagues.
“They were the major predators in the oceans of the Triassic and the early Jurassic.”
“Thousands of partial and complete skeletons of Ichthyosaurs of early Jurassic have been collected, mainly from the United Kingdom and Germany.”
“The first jurassic ichthyosaurs of North America are rare,” they noted.
“Thus, the discovery of a partial skeleton of Western Canada is important.”
Search Fernatator of praiseskeleton. Note that the Rostrum is incomplete, although it preserves an additional part which has since been lost. T. Pontice on the right, WR Wilson, Managing Director of the CNP Coal Company, on the left. Photo taken around 1916, Elk River, between Morrissey and Fernie, British Columbia. Unknown photographer. Image credit: Massare and al.
The skeleton of Fernatator of praise was found in the summer of 1916 by T. Prentice while he was fishing in the Elk river in British Columbia, in Canada.
“The specimen is the most complete chtyosaur so far known to the first Jurassic in North America, and one of the many known Ichthyosaurian specimens of western Canada Fernie formation,” said paleontologists.
The new species is an ichthyosaur of moderate size, between 3 and 4 m (10-13 feet) in length, with a unique combination of characters.
“The entire skeleton, as kept, is 2.8 m long, including the printing of the rostrum’s previous part,” said the researchers.
“In life, the skeleton was probably closer to 3.5 m long and perhaps up to 4 m long.”
“Although the preservation is bad, a sufficient morphology is discernible to justify the designation of a new genre and a new species,” they added.
“It is characterized by a large bar post-shaped post, a short and right judgal which does not extend beyond the orbit previously or behind, a long narrow previous process of the maxillary, and a coracoid with a largely curved lateral edge and a deep anterior notch, among other characteristics.”
“”Fernatator of praise represents an important addition to the meager North American record of the first jurassic ichthyosaurs and the second taxon to be recognized as the early Jurassic of Canada. »»
An article describing this discovery was published in the June 2025 issue of the journal Malaria.
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Judy A. Massare and al. 2025. The most complete jurassic ichthyosaur in North America. Malaria 15 (2): 86-99
