Nichollssaura

Nichollssaura fills a 40-million-year gap in the fossil record of North American plesiosaurs, meaning no plesiosaur fossils from that time were known before its discovery.1

The only known skeleton was accidentally discovered by a 100-ton electric shovel operator in an oilsand mine near Fort McMurray, Alberta, in 1994.1

The fossil is almost complete, missing only a few bones like the left forelimb and some ribs, which were lost when the shovel hit the skeleton.1

Inside the stomach of the Nichollssaura fossil, scientists found 165 gastroliths (stomach stones) made of chert and quartzite, which may have helped it digest food.1

The gastroliths in Nichollssaura are similar to those found in another plesiosaur from the same area, Wapuskanectes, suggesting both animals collected stones from the same ancient beaches.1

Nichollssaura was originally named Nichollsia borealis in 2008, but that name was already used for a type of isopod (a small crustacean), so it was changed to Nichollssaura in 2009.12