Researchers have discovered in Morocco fossils of a new species of mosasaurus, a genus of immense marine dinosaurs that 70-66 million years ago dominated the oceans of present-day Western Europe, North America, South America and Antarctica, then covered by water.
With huge jaws and teeth like those of the orcas, the new species of those huge reptiles, called 'Thalassotitan atrox' (meaning 'terrible marine giant'), hunted other marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs, sea turtles and other mosasaurus, says a statement from the University of Bath in the UK.
The largest species of mosasaurus could reach up to 12 meters in length and were among the superpredators of the Late Cretaceous.
The 'Thalassotitan atrox' found in Morocco was a little smaller (9 meters), but had a huge skull of 1.4 meters. Unlike other species of mosasaurus, characterized by long jaws and thin teeth to catch fish, the 'Thalassotitan' had a short and wide snout and conical teeth like those of an orca, adapted to destroy bones of large prey.
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Precisely the shape of the teeth and jaws suggested that the 'Thalassotitan' was a predator of the top of the food chain, such as killer whales and modern great white sharks.
Surprisingly, in the place where the enormous dinosaur was found, scientists discovered the possible remains of its victims, since some fossils of the same site had damage caused by acids or by the action of huge teeth.
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These are large predatory fish, a sea turtle, a plesiosaur head half a meter long and jaws and skulls of at least three different species of other mosasaurus, which would have been digested in the stomach of the 'Thalassotitan' before it spat out his bones.
"We cannot say with certainty what species of animal ate all these other mosasaurs. But we have bones of marine reptiles killed and eaten by a large predator," explained paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Nick Longrich of the University of Bath. "And in the same place we find the 'Thalassotitan', a species that fits the profile of the killer: a mosasaurus specialized in hunting other marine reptiles. It’s probably not a coincidence," he said.
The statement states that the 'Thalassotitan' lived in the last million years of the Dinosaur Age, so it was contemporary with animals like the’T. Rex'.
The discovery of a new species of mosasaurus in Morocco suggests that this genus was not declining before the impact of the asteroid that caused the massive extinction of the Cretaceous, conclude paleontologists. (Text and photos: RT in Spanish)
