Nearly eight decades after a British expedition first documented the battered remains of a giant fossil on an Arctic island, scientists have identified it as a previously unknown species of ancient amphibian-like creature. The fossil, discovered on Bjørnøya, or Bear Island, has been named Arctobatrachus urdensis and is the largest plagiosaurid ever found, according to a Times of India report, citing Phys.org.
The animal measured around 2.7 metres (8.9 feet) in length, making it a giant among the extinct group of flat-bodied, bottom-dwelling creatures that lived during the Triassic period, roughly 251 to 201 million years ago.
