Ancient reptile rises from Alberta oil sands

“We owe a lot to the excellent work Syncrude does of salvaging the fossils they find”, says Don Brinkman, assistant director of research and collections at the Royal Tyrrell Museum. “Because of this kind of partnership we are able to learn a lot more about marine reptiles from the Cretaceous Period.”

“This is exciting because it is truly palaeontology on an industrial scale,” Russell said. “Syncrude deserves a lot of credit for recognizing the importance of this specimen and assisting in preserving it. They worked around excavating in the area for 24 hours to ensure it was properly handled and continue to be involved in helping researchers further understand the geology and paleontology of the region.”

Nichollsia borealis is one of the most complete and best preserved North American plesiosaurs from the Cretaceous Period and lived approximately 112-million years ago. Although not classified as dinosaurs, plesiosaurs lived in the seas at the same time that dinosaurs roamed the land throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods (205 million – 65 million years ago). They were a diverse group of carnivorous aquatic reptiles that reached lengths of over 12 metres. Fossil remains of dozens of plesiosaurs have been recovered around the world since the early 1800s and are among the first fossil vertebrates to be scientifically described. Nichollsia is also very significant because it fills a 40-million-year gap in the plesiosaur fossil record and greatly increases the understanding of the ancient seaway that once split North America in two and whose shores abounded with dinosaurs.

“This individual was a pioneer in the marine waters that would eventually become the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway, which ran the length of North America during much of the Cretaceous and was home to one of the world’s most diverse communities of marine reptiles,” Druckenmiller said. “It represents the oldest known forerunner of this amazing period in North American prehistory.”

The excellent condition of the fossil has also proven to be a gold mine for palaeontologists, who often rely on scattered and incomplete examples for classifying and reconstructing plesiosaur prehistory.

“This specimen was preserved in sandstone and was not crushed as much as most specimens, which have typically been found in shale,” Druckenmiller explained. “Because of this, I was able to have its three-dimensional skull CT-scanned so we can see the details of the insides of its braincase. This has helped us understand this animal in more detail than almost any other plesiosaur ever found.”