Bones of 110-million-year-old Ichtyosaurus found in Australia’s Richmond

The fossil hunting grounds near Richmond in northern Queensland in Australia have thrown up another remarkable discovery, Report informs referring to The Canberra Times.

Kronosaurus Korner museum founder Rob Ievers recently helped with the excavation of an Ichthyosaur skull discovered at their fossil hunting sites 10km north of Richmond.

Ichtyosaurs (from the ancient Greek word for "fish lizard" are large extinct marine reptiles resembling modern fish or dolphins that lived from 250 million years ago to around 90 million years ago, at a time when the area around North West Queensland was part of a vast inland sea.

In 2018 an Ichtyosaur the "size of a car" was uncovered and now significant portions of another have been found.

Ievers told the ABC the museum's new paleontologist Kevin Peterson was fossicking at the site when he discovered "a fair chunk of bone".

"We went out to the site to have a look and after digging around it we discovered it was the head of a marine reptile called an Ichtyosaur," Ievers said.

"These heads are typically one meter in length so this is of a large reptile five or six meters in length."

The Richmond team carefully extracted the fossil and took it to the museum's preparation room where work commenced on it to further identify it and determine its significance.

Ievers said the fossils found around Richmond are 112 million years old and they found a significant portion of the animal in the new find.

The most famous find at the museum is remnants of a kronosaurus that gave it its name, found on a property near Hughenden. This fearsome marine reptile grew to 10 meters in length and was an apex predator preying on turtles and plesiosaurs.