Traskasaura sandrae, a 12-m-long elasmosaur (a sort of plesiosaur) that lived within the Cretaceous seas, 85 million years in the past, had a wierd mixture of primitive and derived traits not like another elasmosaur; its distinctive suite of variations enabled this marine reptile to hunt prey from above.
Traskasaura sandrae. Picture credit score: O’Keefe et al., doi: 10.1080/14772019.2025.2489938.
The primary Traskasaura fossil was found in 1988 from Late Cretaceous rocks of the Haslam Formation on Vancouver Island, Canada.
Since then, further fossils have been recovered from the formation: an remoted proper humerus and a well-preserved, juvenile skeleton comprising thorax, girdles and limbs.
First described in 2002, the fossils just lately turned well-known, having been adopted by the Province of British Columbia and declared because the official fossil emblem of British Columbia.
“Plesiosaur fossils have been recognized for many years in British Columbia,” stated Marshall College’s Professor F. Robin O’Keefe, lead writer of the examine.
“Nonetheless, the identification of the animal that left the fossils has remained a thriller, even because it had been declared BC’s provincial fossil in 2023.”
“Our new analysis revealed at present lastly solves this thriller.”
“The scientific confusion regarding this taxon is comprehensible.”
“It has a really odd mixture of primitive and derived traits. The shoulder, specifically, is not like another plesiosaur I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a couple of.”
“With the naming of Traskasaura sandrae, the Pacific Northwest lastly has Mesozoic reptile to name its personal.”
“Fittingly, a area recognized for its wealthy marine life at present was host to unusual and fantastic marine reptiles within the Age of Dinosaurs.”
Within the preliminary, 2002 description of the fossils, specialists had been reluctant to erect a brand new genus based mostly solely on the grownup skeleton of the elasmosaur found.
Comparatively few characters had been unambiguous on this explicit skeleton.
Nonetheless, a brand new, excellently preserved partial skeleton enabled the crew to shed a lot new gentle on the morphology of the Puntledge River elasmosaur — and finally determine it as a brand new genus and species.
Traskasaura sandrae had a really lengthy neck — at the very least 36 well-preserved cervical vertebrae point out at the very least 50 bones within the neck, and doubtless extra.
“And while not big quantities are recognized about Traskasaura sandrae’s habits, the fascinating and lengthy record of autapomorphic characters of the bones point out robust capabilities for downward swimming,” Professor O’Keefe stated.
“The mix of its uncommon options relate to its searching type — the place it will use this functionality for downward swimming to dive upon its prey from above.”
“This prey was doubtless the plentiful ammonites recognized from the area.”
The findings seem within the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.
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F. Robin O’Keefe et al. 2025. A reputation for the Provincial Fossil of British Columbia: a wierd new elasmosaur taxon from the Santonian of Vancouver Island. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 23 (1); doi: 10.1080/14772019.2025.2489938
