RIB BONE OF AN ICHTHYOSAUR - 160 million years old - Oxford Clay - Peterborough
« backRIB BONE OF A
JURASSIC ICHTHYOSAUR
160 million years old
Oxford Clay
Dogsthorpe Clay Pit, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire
The proximal end of the rib of a large marine reptile known as an ichthyosaur. It was collected in 1991.
Like all the Oxford Clay reptile fossils it has been assembled from several pieces. It is an attractive brown colour and the detail of the preservation of the bone surface is remarkable - typical of the vertebrate fossils that were found in the Oxford Clay of Peterborough.
Ichthyosaurs, and their relatives the pliosaurs and plesiosaurs, were at the top of the food chain in the tropical seas of the Late Jurassic period. These seas covered much of southern England and their fossils are found in the Oxford Clay and the Kimmeridge Clay.
Click on a picture for a larger image
A skeleton of an ichthyosaur from the Oxford Clay of Peterborough on display in the Natural History Museum, London. This skeleton was found over a century ago by the Leeds brothers of Peterborough who were responsible for the finest collection of marine reptiles ever assembled. Photo copyright: Captmondo. Wikipedia Creative Commons License. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophthalmosaurus
Size: 19 centimetres long
Weight: 72 grams
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