The sea monster’s ancient remains were found near Marambio Base, an Argentine Antarctic research station.
Theo Sci-News, The new sea monster is named Marambionectes molinai – reminiscent of the name Marambio island in the James Ross archipelago of the Antarctic Peninsula.
This sea monster helped identify not only a species but also a completely new genus of Elasmosauridae – a family of snake-necked lizards with a long history from the Triassic to the Cretaceous period.
From a size of around 3 m in the Triassic period, this family of marine reptiles increasingly developed in the following Jurassic period and then entered the heyday of the Cretaceous period, with the largest representatives over 10 m long. .
They are completely adapted to an aquatic lifestyle and have a unique body plan, including a slim body, oar-like limbs and a very long neck with 75 individual vertebrae.
A paleontologist excavated the bones of a sea monster – Photo: Journal of Systematic Palaeontology
The exact size of the Antarctic sea monster has not yet been determined, but it was also a great creature of the Cretaceous ocean.
Its fossil remains date back 67 million years, or the late Cretaceous period, and were first discovered in 2018 from the López de Bertodano Formation.
Paleontologist José O’Gorman and colleagues from the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET – Argentina) said these remains include the body and part of the tail, limbs, neck, skull, as well as stomach stones called gastroliths used to aid in the digestion of food.
Despite many difficulties during the months-long excavation campaign, interrupted by snowstorms and complex analysis and comparison to identify the species, they finally revealed the secret of the sea monster.
The general state of preservation of the specimen is very good, making work more convenient.
“The specimen has distinctive features, allowing us to identify it as a transitional form between two groups living in the Southern Hemisphere, shedding light on the evolution and relationships between the other genera found in Chile, New Zealand and West Antarctica” – the authors wrote in the scientific journal Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.
