<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The fossil of a 7.1-metre marine reptile unearthed in outback Queensland will soon be donated to an outback museum.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A small bone was first discovered in 2023 by fossil enthusiast Cassandra Prince on a property about 400 kilometres north-west of Longreach.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A careful excavation of the site subsequently revealed what is believed to be the most complete fossil of an ichthyosaur ever found in Australia.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>LIVE UPDATES:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/porepunkah-victoria-police-shooting-live-updates-latest-news-headlines/7dcdf6e1-5c00-4554-8d22-cc74f2e1f007" rel="" target="" title="Two officers killed, one injured in shooting at rural Victoria property"><strong><span>Two officers killed, one injured in shooting at rural Victoria property</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I was very confident the rest of the body was down under the dirt," Prince said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The fossil, believed to be about 90 per cent intact, consists of a complete vertebral column, an intact left flipper, partial right flipper, rare hind flippers, partial tail fin and nearly complete skull and torso.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We're thinking he's lost a flipper but it may be laying down the side there," she said.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/queensland-ichthyosaur-fossil-found-in-outback-to-be-shown-in-museum-in-winton-science-news/5b90684a-94a1-4d02-89d0-eb478ea5251c" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The ichthyosaur has been donated to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History in Winton, a region of central-west Queensland renowned for dinosaur fossil discoveries.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Museum founder David Elliott said the find was "extremely rare".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Skulls are relatively common or partial skulls or partial bodies, but to get the whole animal all in place is so rare," Elliott told 9News.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"So, now you can look at that and know its exact proportions, you know, the proportion of the skull, of the tail to the length and all that.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"This is a first for us, you know, and it had to happen sooner or later, so it's finally happened."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Ichthyosaurs, now extinct, were dolphin-like marine reptiles that were a dominant predator of Australia's inland sea during the early Cretaceous period more than 100 million years ago.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://apps.apple.com/au/app/9news/id1010533727" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Apple App Store</span></em></strong></a><span> </span><strong><em><span>and</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nineNewsAlerts.nine.com&amp;hl=en_AU&amp;pli=1" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Google Play</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>.</span></em></strong></div></div>