The legend of the whale ichthyosaurus

   Sometimes mysteries come from unexpected places, and here I bring you a little-known enigma in the Hispanic world of paleontology, let's get started. 

Hector's ichthyosaurus was a supposed marine reptile, from the group of shastasaurids, that possibly lived in New Zealand during the Upper Triassic. 

The first remains, which were fragmentary vertebral centers, were discovered in the Mount Potts region near Canterbury, South Island in the Daonella Zone (Lower Carnian), New Zealand in 1874. 

Richard Lydekker nicknamed this fossil after James Hector, which was immediately compared to that of an ichthyosaurus, especially with the genus Shastasaurus, although its proposed taxonomy is uncertain and it was never classified in any specific genus.

                       A huge size 

   These vertebrae were reportedly 457 millimeters in diameter, which would make it the largest animal if the shastasaurid extrapolation is correct, It is almost twice the diameter of Shonisaurus, this would give it a massive size of 40 meters and 200 tons if shastasaurid comparisons are viable due to size similarities, this would make this taxon resemble Shastasaurus in morphology.

Here is a comparison 

 

            Taxonomic concern 

    Lydekker characterized these remains as belonging to Ichthyosaurus australis in 1874, changing this in 1889, when he coined the name I. hictori (sometimes treated as nomen nudum) and then in 1971 the name I. pottsi was given as a replacement, but these designations have been abandoned today.

 However, in 1956 they were classified as Mixosauridae and finally in 1971 they were considered non-diagnostic, although they are normally considered to belong to Shastasauridae.

Sadly, these remains cannot be located today and are assumed to have been shipped to the United States with other marine reptiles and are now possibly lost at sea, in private collections or were destroyed by the disappearance of the Matoaka (their transport ship which was lost en route to London).

If it existed it would be larger than a blue whale, if it ever existed or we are facing a case similar to the ancient amphicoelias fragillimus, and this is only an exaggeration of size, although who knows, it may never be verified, although its possible existence is recorded based on paleontological records of yesteryear.

References:

https://handwiki.org/wiki/Biology:Hector%27s_ichthyosaur

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03115511003663939