Oldest Mosasaur Fossil In North America Found

Researchers have discovered a 94-million-year-old Mosasaur fossil in Southern Utah, which is considered as the oldest Mosasaur fossil unearthed in Northern America.

A study posted in the journal Cretaceous Research said the marine reptile's fossil was named as "Sarabosaurus dahli gen. et sp. nov., from the lower Turonian part of the Tropic Shale in Utah, USA."

"The new taxon possesses a vascular pattern of the basisphenoid heretofore only seen in late diverging plioplatecarpine mosasaurids," the study said.

According to a Live Science report, Mosasaurs were a group of marine reptiles that dominated the seas during the Cretaceous period or about 145 million to 66 million years ago. Research showed that these marine reptiles lived in the same period as that of the existence of dinosaurs.

Characteristics of ancient Mosasaurs

Experts said this species possessed long tails and paddle-like appendages that will help them chase after their prey. The latest study mentioned that the newly described species was around 10 feet (3 m) long.

Meanwhile, University of North Florida faculty member Dr. Barry Albright, who was part of the research team that found the fossil, said that during the time the Tropic Shale was being deposited, "Mosasaurs were still very small, primitive, and in the early evolutionary stages of becoming fully marine adapted."

Due to these characteristics, Albright said their fossils are extremely rare and hard to locate. He said that the fragility and scarcity of the fossils actually make them highly important for a center of an scientific study.

For his part, Dr. Alan Titus, a paleontologist, said Mosasaurs from younger rocks are relatively abundant, however, they are extremely rare in rocks older than about 90 million years.

The oldest Mosasaurs can evolve into gigantic lizard-like marine predators that dominated the oceans during the latter part of the dinosaur age.

Studies posted in the University of North Florida said their land-dwelling ancestors were similar to the modern Komodo Dragon, but amidst the passing of time, their aquatic cousins evolved streamlined bodies, paddle-like fins, and tails that propelled them through the water.

How it was discovered?

The road towards discovering this ancient creature began over a decade ago when Scott Richardson, a dedicated volunteer who works alongside Albright, had started a quest to find fossilized remains of marine creatures from the late Cretaceous period.

This period was characterized by a vast seaway that covered a significant portion of the North America, according to a report on CBS 47.

It was in March 2012 when Richardson unearthed numerous small skull fragments and vertebrae scattered across a shale slope, which were later identified as belonging to an early Mosasaur.

Over the next two field seasons, a joint team which includes members from the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service worked hard to recover nearly 50% of the specimen, which later enables them to identify its precise identity.

The researchers believed that the discovery of such a well-preserved specimen provides invaluable insights into the evolution and antiquity of the marine reptiles that existed a very long time ago.

"Mosasaurs from younger rocks are relatively abundant, but mosasaurs are extremely rare in rocks older than about 90 million years. Finding one that preserves so much informative data, especially one of this age, is truly a significant discovery," Titus said in the CBS 47 report.