Newswise — Geologists at Lund University in Sweden have mapped 300 years of research on the prehistoric marine reptiles known as ichthyosaurs. Using a uniquely well-preserved fossil, the team has also created the scientifically most up-to-date reconstruction of an ichthyosaur currently available.
Fish lizards, or ichthyosaurs, were a very successful group of animals that, much like today's whales, migrated from land to the oceans where they thrived for about 160 million years. These dolphin-like reptiles lived from the Early Triassic to the Late Cretaceous, about the same time as dinosaurs ruled the Earth.
Image: Johan Joelsson The sculpture created by the researchers
