A Mysterious New Mosasaur from Japan

Publication Info:

Transcript:

"First mosasaur premaxilla fossil hints at a new species" by Okayama University of Science

Meet what might be the newest mosasaur species, and first mosasaur premaxilla from Japan! Mosasaurs ruled our planet's oceans at a time when the dinosaurs ruled the Cretaceous landscape.

Episode 314

Notes:

Some Japanese sea monster remains were just announced that are not only the first of their kind, but kind of confusing researchers. So, during the Cretaceous, the oceans and even some more inland waterways were ruled by animals like Mosasaurus, Plesiosaurs, giant fish like Xiphactinus, and even some sharks. And all these groups were present pretty much all over the planet. Well, move forward 66 plus million years, and 30 years ago a group of fossils were discovered in Osaka Prefecture in Japan. But at the time, researchers didn't quite realize what they had because they knew they had Mosasaur fossils. But it turns out these fossil remains included the first premaxilla from a Mosasaur ever discovered in Japan. The premaxilla is the very front of an animal's face. It's like the front of the upper jaw and kind of snout. And while a lot of the time, and at least certain groups, the premax shape can be kind of assumed, it's still insanely important while reconstructing what these animals looked like and how they evolved. That said, paleontologists aren't quite sure yet if this is a new species. But between the premaxilla and the other bones that were present, it doesn't appear to match any known species. Meaning that this could be a brand new Mosasaur from 66 to 90 million years ago in Japan. It's still early, and there isn't an actual paper for this yet, but here's a source if you want to read more.