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Eugene

(61,595 posts)
Wed Mar 9, 2016, 01:03 AM Mar 2016

Mysterious extinction of prehistoric marine reptiles explained

Source: Reuters

Technology | Tue Mar 8, 2016 8:30pm EST

Mysterious extinction of prehistoric marine reptiles explained

WASHINGTON | BY WILL DUNHAM

One of the enduring mysteries of paleontology, the demise of a highly successful group of dolphin-like marine reptiles called ichthyosaurs that flourished in Earth's seas for more than 150 million years, may finally have been solved.

Scientists on Tuesday attributed their extinction 94 million years ago to the combination of global warming and their own failure to evolve swiftly enough.

The research, the most comprehensive analysis to date of their disappearance, undercut previous notions that ichthyosaurs had been in decline for tens of millions of years and had been out-competed by other predators such as the fearsome ocean-going lizards called mosasaurs that were just arriving on the scene.

The study showed that large mosasaurs in fact appeared only after ichthyosaurs went extinct.

"We found ichthyosaurs were very diversified during the last part of their reign," said paleontologist Valentin Fischer of Belgium's University of Liege, noting that several species with various body shapes and ecological niches existed although ichthyosaur evolution had become relatively stagnant.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-science-reptiles-idUSKCN0WA2K2

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