Fossils of a “terrifying” marine reptile have been found
(Picture: University of Bath)Researchers have discovered fossils of a giant apex predator that’s been described as “a Komodo Dragon crossed with a great white shark crossed with a T. Rex crossed with a killer whale”.
The Thalassotitan atrox was a mosasaur, which were giant marine lizards. It had “massive jaws and teeth’’ that let it “seize and rip apart huge prey”.
Mosasaurs are not dinosaurs, but lived in the final million years of the age of dinosaurs, which means that the Thalassotitan atrox lived on Earth at the same time as T. Rex and Triceratops.
The researchers also found fossils of the Thalassotitan’s potential prey, which include at least three different mosasaur species and a plesiosaur, which is another kind of marine reptile.
The fossils show that the Thalassotitan had wounds that would suggest it violently fought with other mosasaurs over feeding grounds or mates.
Thalassotitan’s teeth are broken and worn which suggests that the animal attacked other marine reptiles and broke its teeth as it bit into their bones.
“Thalassotitan was an amazing, terrifying animal,” said Dr Nick Longrich, who led the study.
“Imagine a Komodo sragon crossed with a great-white shark crossed with a T. rex crossed with a killer whale.”
Fossils of the Thalassotitan atrox were discovered in Morocco, near Casablanca, which was flooded by the Atlantic ocean near the end of the Cretaceous period.
Professor Nour-Eddine Jalil, a co-author on the paper from the Museum of Natural History in Paris, said: “The phosphate fossils of Morocco offer an unparalleled window on the paleobiodiversity at the end of Cretaceous.
“They tell us how life was rich and diversified just before the end of the ‘dinosaur era’, where animals had to specialise to have a place in their ecosystems. Thalassotitan completes the picture by taking on the role of the mega predator at the top of the food chain.”
“There’s so much more to be done,” added Longrich. “Morocco has one of the richest and most diverse marine faunas known from the Cretaceous. We’re just getting started understanding the diversity and the biology of the mosasaurs.”
