Overview

• The Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology study by Jacob Quinn and colleagues raises Britain’s Rhaetian coelacanth count from four to over fifty.
• Researchers found that many specimens had been misidentified for more than a century, often labeled as the small marine reptile Pachystropheus.
• X-ray imaging of museum pieces confirmed the reassignments, with most fossils belonging to the extinct Mawsoniidae lineage.
• The material comes from late Triassic deposits in southwest England, when the region formed a tropical island archipelago.
• The team reports individuals of varied ages and sizes, some approaching one meter, hinting at a diverse community and opportunistic predation.