New Mosasaur Lizard Species Discovered; Giant Ancient Sea Lizard Has Dagger-Like Teeth

A previously unknown giant sea lizard species has been revealed by researchers. The newly described species has unique dagger-like teeth and could have lived during the dinosaur age.

New Mosasaur Species

The new species was described in the "A bizarre new plioplatecarpine mosasaurid from the Maastrichtian of Morocco" study. It is a kind of mosasaur, which is a group of massive extinct marine reptiles that dominated the oceans during the latter phases of the Late Cretaceous period that was roughly 100 million to 66 million years ago.

These ancient marine animals had slender and long bodies, making them similar to modern-day monitor lizards, though they were streamlined for swimming. They feature webbed toes and feet and powerful and broad tails. These lizards may have been able to reach high speeds. They were skilled hunters with jaws that housed many sharp teeth.

The disappearance of mosasaurs resulted from the mass extinction event that took place roughly 66 million years ago. This is believed to have been caused by the impact of a massive asteroid.

Giant Sea Lizards

Paleontologist Nick Longrich from the University of Bath, who is the study's lead author, explains that mosasaurs are actually giant sea lizards. They were fully aquatic and remarkably specialized for marine settings. Their legs were altered into flippers that were whale-like, while their tails had a tail fin that was similar to that of sharks. They also birthed their young in a similar manner as whales.

Longrich explains that, in terms of the niches that they occupied, they were somewhat equivalent to dolphins and whales. However, since they were lizards, they were also starkly different. The giant sea lizards had forked tongues used for scenting prey in aquatic environments. Similar to Komodo dragons and snakes, the lower jaws of these lizards could stretch to consume massive prey.

The newly identified lizard, Khinjaria acutus, got its description based on an incomplete fossilized bone set that was dug up in Sidi Chennane's phosphate mines. The bones include the majority of a skull, including the upper jaw, lower jaw, most of the structure's braincase, and the teeth. A handful of vertebrae were also recovered.

The dating of the fossils goes back to the Maastrichtian age, which is the Late Cretaceous period's final stage. This took place around 72 million to 66 million years ago. Longrich says that the fossils could be roughly 67 to 69 million years old, making them quite older compared to most mosasaurs. However, this is something that they are still trying to figure out.

The newly described giant sea lizard may have been around 23 to 25 feet long. It may have been able to stretch open its jaws enough to swallow a whole human. Similar to other mosasaurs, it may have been a top predator back when it still dominated the oceans, though it may not have sat at the top of the food chain.

One of the lizard's noteworthy features is its dagger-like teeth. Longrich notes that its teeth were similar to those of a mako shark, which feeds on large fish, squid, and even sharks and other marine mammals at times. The lizard could have had a fairly similar diet, but may have consumed significantly bigger fish, as it was massively larger than the mako shark.

Unlike other known mosasaurs, Khinjaria has a remarkably short face and an extremely long skull back. Because of this, the authors described the species as bizarre.

The creature may have lived in a marine environment characterized by the great abundance of small fish and plankton. The ecosystem housed a shockingly high number of mosasaurs among different predators at the top.

Longrich notes that the diversity of mosasaurs is quite surprising. It remains a mystery whether the environment harbors something unusual or if this is due to something inherent to mosasaurs.

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