Huge sea monster twice the size of bus roamed Somerset 200m years ago

• Somerset’s coastline was home to a huge ichthyosaur 200 million years ago
• It was a whopping 25 meters (82 feet) long – twice the length of a London bus

It’s best known for Glastonbury, cider and cheddar.

But Somerset now has a new claim to fame – as its coastline was once home to the largest species of marine reptile ever to be discovered.

Experts have revealed a huge ichthyosaur, two times the size of a bus, swam in the sea off Somerset 200 million years ago.

Archaeologists from the University of Bristol and the University of Manchester have spent the last few years piecing together fragments of a jawbone unearthed in the Westbury Mudstone Formation.

The new bone was similar in size and shape to another jawbone collected from the same rock formation just a few miles away.

It’s best known for Glastonbury, cider and cheddar. But Somerset now has a new claim to fame – as its coastline was once home to the largest species of marine reptile ever to be discovered

Archaeologists from the University of Bristol and the University of Manchester have spent the last few years piecing together fragments of a jawbone unearthed in the Westbury Mudstone Formation

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Together, they now believe these two jawbones belong to a previously undescribed species of ichthyosaur – a group of massive, ocean-dwelling reptiles from the age of the dinosaurs.

Based on the length of these bones, the new species, named Ichthyotitan severnensis, may have been a whopping 25 meters (82 feet) long – twice the length of a London bus.

Ichthyosaurs, many of which looked like modern-day dolphins, first evolved during the early Triassic period around 250 million years ago.

They are distant relatives of lizards and snakes and were able to move through the water at very high speeds.

They preyed on a range of animals, such as octopus, squid and cuttlefish, with the long, thin jaws which contained numerous sharp teeth.

Within a few million years, some had evolved to reach at least 15 meters (49 feet) long, and by the Late Triassic the largest ichthyosaurs had evolved, including the newly described species.

The new species, named Ichthyotitan severnensis, may have been a whopping 25 meters (82 feet) long – twice the length of a London bus

The fossils were unearthed in the Westbury Mudstone Formation, which is just southwest of Bristol

This reign didn’t necessarily last long, however.

While some species of ichthyosaur continued to roam the oceans for millions of years, these ‘giant ichthyosaurs’ are believed to have died out during a major extinction event 200 million years ago.

This unique group of reptiles never again reached such a gargantuan size.

Dr Dean Lomax, who led the study, said: ‘In 2018, my team studied and described [a] giant jawbone and we had hoped that one day another would come to light.

‘This new specimen is more complete, better preserved, and shows that we now have two of these giant bones that have a unique shape and structure.

‘It is quite remarkable to think that gigantic, blue whale-sized ichthyosaurs were swimming in the oceans around what was the UK during the Triassic Period.

‘These jawbones provide tantalising evidence that perhaps one day a complete skull or skeleton of one of these giants might be found. You never know.’

The findings were published in the journal Plos One.

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