London - A giant prehistoric reptile that
patrolled the waters off Scotland 170 million years ago has been
identified by scientists, they said Monday.
The creatures, which resembled a menacing dolphin and grew up to
14 foot (four metres) long, were identified by fossils from the
Isle of Skye in northwest Scotland.
A team led by Edinburgh University scientists have named the new
species Dearcmhara shawcrossi in honour of Brian Shawcross, an
amateur fossil collector who gathered many of the fossils in
1959.
These were later donated to a museum, allowing scientists to
study them and identify the new species.
"During the time of dinosaurs, the waters of Scotland were
prowled by big reptiles the size of motor boats," said Steve
Brusatte of Edinburgh University's School of GeoSciences.
"Their fossils are very rare and only now, for the first time,
we've found a new species that was uniquely Scottish."
Scotland's most famous reptile, real or imaginary, is the Loch
Ness monster, the myth of which draws thousands of visitors a year
to Loch Ness in northern Scotland.
