An international team of researchers from Canada, Colombia and Germany discovered the new species, with a well-preserved metre-long skull, and is hailing it as one of the last surviving ichthyosaurs, which were ancient animals that resemble modern-day swordfish, according to a news release from McGill University.
“Whereas other ichthyosaurs had small, equally sized teeth for feeding on small prey, this new species modified its tooth sizes and spacing to build an arsenal of teeth for dispatching large prey, like big fishes and other marine reptiles.”
Researchers chose the name in honour of the ancient Muisca culture that lived in Villa de Leyva area for millennia, according to the release
According to the study, this discovery clarifies the evolutionary progress of ichthyosaurs and allows them to compare the new species with ones from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, with a chance to study how they evolved
The end of the Jurassic period also experienced a global extinction event that changed marine and terrestrial ecosystems, the release states, with many species being succeeded by new lineages evolved from their predecessors
We are testing the idea that this region and time in Colombia was an ancient biodiversity hotspot and are using the fossils to better understand the evolution of marine ecosystems during this transitional time,” said researcher Dirley Cortes in the release