For nearly 30 years, an unusually chunky Jurassic fossil lay waiting to reveal what it was. Fossil collector Cliff Linster discovered one of only two known specimens in Wyoming, and his find was donated to the Wyoming Dinosaur Centre in 2019. Scientists have now identified it as Wyoteuthis linsterorum, a previously unknown species of belemnite dating to around 160 million years. Unlike the familiar bullet-shaped fossils commonly found in Wyoming, this ancient squid relative had a remarkably broad, barrel-shaped rostrum, earning it the description of the “chunkiest” belemnite ever found. The discovery also revealed a rare surviving branch of an ancient lineage.
What did Cliff Linster’s Wyoming fossil reveal about a Jurassic “squid”
According to the study published in Wiley, titled ‘‘The big chunky belemnite: a new relict megateuthidid from the Oxfordian (Late Jurassic) of Wyoming, USA, and its place in the evolutionary history of the group, ” the specimen was found in situ in Bighorn County, about six miles south of Hyattville, in a sandstone layer containing smaller belemnites and Camptonectes shells. It came from the upper part of the Redwater Shale, within Wyoming’s Sundance Formation, a geological unit formed when an inland sea covered part of the western United States.What made the fossil stand out was its extraordinary shape. Typical Wyoming belemnites have bullet-shaped remains measuring roughly 5 to 10 centimetres long and just 1 to 2 centimetres wide. By contrast, Wyoteuthis linsterorum had a broad, barrel-shaped rostrum around 10 centimetres long and as much as six centimetres wide. Researchers estimate that the animal itself may have reached about 60 centimetres in length, including its arms.
Why was Cliff Linster’s Jurassic “squid” fossil so unusual
Belemnites were ancient cephalopods related to modern squid and octopuses, and their hard, bullet-shaped rostra are among the most recognisable marine fossils of the Mesozoic. In Wyoming, they are so common that palaeontologist Jessica Lippincott says they are informally “squid butts”. Linster’s specimen, however, was anything but ordinary.The fossil belonged to the Megateuthididae, a belemnite that flourished mainly during the Early to Middle Jurassic and was generally thought to have disappeared much earlier. The researchers concluded that Wyoteuthis was a rare surviving branch of that lineage in the Late Jurassic, making its presence in Wyoming especially significant.
Two Wyoming fossils help scientists identify a new species
According to the University of Manchester, the first known specimen was found in the late 1990s by Burkhard Pohl, founder of the Wyoming Dinosaur Centre; he noticed a belemnite was much larger than the ones he normally encountered. That specimen then remained unstudied in the museum collection for years.After Linster found the second specimen and donated it in 2019, researchers had the two examples needed to recognise and formally describe the animal. CT scanning allowed scientists to examine internal structures without damaging the fossils, helping establish their unusual anatomical characteristics and their relationship to the long-lost Megateuthididae lineage.
PC: University of Manchester
Why was the new Jurassic “squid” named after Cliff Linster
The new animal’s scientific name honours Linster and his family. The genus name Wyoteuthis combines Wyoming’s abbreviation with the Greek word for squid, meaning essentially “a squid from Wyoming”, while linsterorum recognises the Linster family. The researchers specifically acknowledged Linster for discovering the holotype and donating it, making the specimen available for scientific study.Lippincott said the fossil was unlike anything she had encountered during years of collecting Wyoming’s common Pachyteuthis belemnites, adding that the discovery showed how rockhounds and invertebrate fossil collectors can contribute to science. Linster died in June 2026, but he knew researchers were studying his find and was excited that it would be formally described. British palaeontologist Dean Lomax, who had previously collected fossils with Linster and his wife Sandy, said it was “bittersweet” that Linster did not live to see the publication, but that naming the fossil after him would preserve his family name in palaeontology.
