Researchers have identified Wyoteuthis linsterorum, a new species of belemnite that lived approximately 160 million years ago during the Late Jurassic period in an inland sea covering parts of present-day Wyoming, USA. Preserved within the Sundance Formation, the fossils display the thickest internal support structure or guard ever recorded for this extinct group of squid and octopus relatives, measuring about 10 centimeters long and 6 centimeters across. The international research team from the United States, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand utilized computed tomography scanning to examine the internal features without damaging the rare specimens. Their analysis revealed that the species belongs to a belemnite family previously thought to have vanished millions of years earlier, demonstrating unexpected evolutionary persistence and diversity within the group. The discovery centers on two rare specimens collected nearly three decades apart, with the first found in the late 1990s by Dr. Burkhard Pohl and the second discovered by fossil collector Cliff Linster in 2019 near Ten Sleep, Wyoming. The unique barrel-shaped build likely provided an ecological advantage when hunting smaller co-occurring belemnites such as Pachyteuthis, reflecting predatory behaviors seen in modern cephalopods. This finding underscores the vital contributions of amateur fossil collectors and rockhound enthusiasts to formal scientific research and paleontology. Both specimens are currently preserved and displayed at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis, Wyoming, immortalizing the Linster family name in scientific literature.
