Overview
- Researchers published a peer‑reviewed paper in July 2026 describing a partially articulated ichthyosaur nicknamed “BOB” recovered near Richmond in north‑west Queensland.
- Travellers first found the bones in 2019 and museum staff and volunteers spent more than 600 hours excavating and preparing the roughly 6–7 metre ichthyosaur skeleton.
- Non‑destructive synchrotron CT and neutron tomography at ANSTO revealed stomach concretions that contained fish, cephalopods and fragments of a pterosaur jaw, the first confirmed case of an ichthyosaur eating a pterosaur.
- Numerous crushed vertebrae and extensive bite marks on the ichthyosaur match the size and damage expected from Kronosaurus queenslandicus, identified by the team as the only plausible predator capable of those injuries in the Eromanga Sea.
- The find provides rare, direct evidence of Cretaceous feeding behavior, highlights the scientific value of Eromanga Sea deposits, and leaves the Richmond museum specimen available for further study by international researchers.