科学家发现迄今为止最大海洋爬行动物化石—鱼龙。这不是科学家首次发现鱼龙,但它是迄今为止最大的。
A 250 million-year-old jawbone found in the UK was from an 85-foot sea beast.
英国发现了2.5亿年前的海兽颚骨,这只海兽有85英尺长。
Experts say the ichthyosaur was as big as blue whales, the largest animals ever. The findings werepublished in PLOS One.
专家说鱼龙和蓝鲸一样大,是有史以来最大的动物。这些发现发表在《公共科学图书馆·综合》杂志上。
Dean Lomax of Manchester University said the 2016 discovery in Lilstock, Somerset, was “25 percent larger” than a 68-foot ichthyosaur jawbone found in 2004.
曼彻斯特大学的迪安.洛马克斯说,2016年在萨默塞特郡利尔斯托克发现的鱼龙比2004年发现的68英尺的鱼龙“大了25%”。
Lomax said: “As the specimen is represented only by a large piece of jaw, it is difficult to provide a size estimate, but by using a simple scaling factor and comparing the same bone in shonisaurus sikanniensis, the Lilstock specimen is about 25 percent larger.”
洛马克斯说:“由于仅有一大块的下颌样本,所以很难估计大小,但是通过使用简单的缩放比例因数,并比较西卡尼秀尼鱼龙的同一块骨头,发现利尔斯托克的标本要大大概25%。
“Other comparisons suggest the Lilstock ichthyosaur was at least 65 to 82 feet.”
“其他的比较表明利尔斯托克的鱼龙至少有65到82英尺长。”
“Of course, such estimates are not entirely realistic because of differences between species.”
“当然,由于物种之间的差异,这样的估计并不完全现实。”
“Nonetheless, simple scaling is commonly used to estimate size, especially when comparative material is scarce.”
“尽管如此,简单的缩放通常被用来估计尺寸,特别是当对比材料稀缺的时候。”