多塞特上龙文献资料

slj123 · 发表于 2010-1-10 00:52

原文：
Dinosaur experts in Dorset are examining the fossilised skull of a sea monster so large they say it could have eaten a Tyrannosaurus rex for breakfast.
The fossil head is 2.4m (8ft) long, suggesting that the beast measured up to 16m (54ft) from the tip of its massive, crocodile-like snout to the end of its muscular tail, making it one of the largest specimens ever found.
The skull belongs to a pliosaur, one of a group of giant aquatic reptiles which roamed the warm seas over what is now southern Britain 150 million years ago.
It was spotted protruding from an unstable patch of cliff by Kevan Sheehan, a local fossil hunter, after being exposed by a rockfall. He spent four years going back day after day and painstakingly managed to uncover it.
Experts hope that the rest of the pliosaur's body may lie hidden in the cliff, equally well preserved. The exact spot, in the 95 mile stretch of coastline dubbed the Jurassic Coast, is being kept secret to deter amateur hunters.
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liosaur skulls are very big, but not that robust, in general, and you tend to find them crushed flat — completely pancaked," Richard Forrest, an expert on plesiosaurs told the BBC.
"What is fantastic about this new skull, not only is it absolutely enormous, but it is pretty much in 3D and not much distorted.
"You have this wonderful lower jaw — and you can just see from the depth and the thickness that this was immensely strong. It could have taken a human in one gulp. In fact, something like a T. rex would have been breakfast for a beast like this."
Mr Forrest spoke of his awe at the discovery. "I had heard rumours that something big was turning up. But seeing this thing in the flesh, so to speak, is just jaw-dropping. It is simply enormous."
The fossil has been bought for £20,000 by Dorset County Museum, and it is hoped to put it on public display there in about six months time when the rocky accretions and debris have been cleaned away.
Richard Edmonds, one of Dorset's earth science managers for the Jurassic Coast, praised the "amazing effort" of the fossil hunter to uncover the skull, but warned that it could take decades for the rest of the giant to emerge from its cliff tomb.
"The ground is dipping very steeply, and as it is such a huge specimen it will be buried beneath layer upon layer of rock, so we will have to wait patiently for the next big rockslide," he said.
David Martill, a palaeontologist from the University of Portsmouth, said that pliosaurs were monsters with massive heads filled with razor-sharp teeth, carried on short, powerful necks. They had four paddle-like limbs to propel their bulky body through the water, and preyed on the ancestors of dolphins and even on others of their own kind.
"They had massive big muscles on their necks, and you would have imagined that they would bite into the animal and get a good grip, and then with these massive neck muscles they probably would have thrashed the animals around and torn chunks off," said Mr Martill. "It would have been a bit of a blood bath."
With an estimated weight of between seven and 12 tonnes, the Dorset pliosaur could rival the largest known specimens in the world. The Monster and Predator X, which were found in Svalbard off northern Norway, and the Monster of Aramberri, found in Mexico in 2002, which are believed to have been of similar size.

译文：
在多塞特恐龙专家正在研究的海怪如此之大，他们说可以吃早餐暴龙的头骨化石。

这个化石头部2.4米（8英尺）长，表明野兽性能指标达到了1600万（54英尺从垃圾堆填区）的大规模，类似鳄鱼的吻到其肌肉的末端，使其成为迄今发现的最大的一个标本。

这个头骨属于上龙，一个巨大的漫游超过了现在英国南部1.5亿年前，温暖的海洋水生爬行动物群之一。

发现这是从一个悬崖由凯文希恩，当地化石猎人，不稳定的修补程序后，伸出一个崩塌暴露。他花了四年回去一天又一天，精心管理，揭露它。

专家们希望，在上龙的身体的其余部分可能在于悬崖隐藏，同样保存完好。准确的位置，被称为在海岸线九五英里侏罗纪海岸伸展，对外界保密，以防止业余猎人。

“上龙的头骨很大，但并不强劲，一般来说，你往往会发现他们压平 - 完全叠加，”理查德福雷斯特，对蛇颈龙专家告诉BBC。

“什么是对这个新头骨太棒了，不仅是绝对巨大的，但它几乎在3D并没有多少歪曲。

“你这个美好的下颚 - ，你可以直接看到从深度和厚度，这是极其强烈。也可能对人类作出的一个吞下。事实上，类似暴龙本来的早餐这样的野兽。“

福雷斯特先生谈到他敬畏的发现。 “我听到传言，一些大的转折点了。可是看到这个肉的事情，可以这么说，只是令人惊讶的。这是巨大的。”

该化石已通过收购英镑20,000多塞特郡博物馆，并希望把公开陈列在6个月左右的时间在那里岩石牙垢及碎片，已经洗清。

理查德蒙兹，多塞特郡的地球科学的管理者之一的侏罗纪海岸，称赞“的化石猎人惊人的努力”，以发掘的头骨，但警告说这可能采取的巨型其余几十年来摆脱其悬崖墓。

“地面是倾斜非常平稳，因为它是如此庞大的样本将根据下面层层岩石掩埋，因此我们将不得不等待下一次大塌方耐心，”他说。

大卫马提尔，从朴次茅斯大学古生物学家说，pliosaurs与剃刀是充满巨大首脑锋利的牙齿，在短期内，强大的脖子进行怪物。他们有四个桨状四肢推动通过水体的体积，以及对海豚的祖先为名，甚至对他们自己的那种人。

“他们有他们的脖子上大量的大肌肉，你会想到他们会咬动物并获得良好的抓地力，并与这些巨大颈部肌肉，他们很可能会围绕和关闭大胜大块撕裂的动物，然后说：”先生马提尔。 “这本来是一个血浴位。”

与7年至12吨，估计体重，多塞特上龙可媲美世界上最大的已知的标本。 Monster和捕食者的X，它是在斯瓦尔巴群岛北部海面发现挪威，以及阿兰贝里怪兽，在墨西哥发现于2002年，被认为有被类似规模。