The Freshwater Mosasaur: Garamaudo bauciensis

Publication Info:

Transcript:

N. Bardet et al. 2026. Garamaudo bauciensis, a new freshwater mosasaurid (Reptilia, Squamata) from the Santonian (Late Cretaceous) of Provence, southeastern France. Peer Community Journal 6: e99; doi: 10.24072/pcjournal.804

Meet Garamaudo bauciensis!
The new freshwater mosasaur (relatives of mosasaurus) from Cretaceous France. In a time when dinosaurs ruled the land, mosasaurs ruled the seas, rivers, Deltas, and apparently lakes!

Episode 354

Notes:

How do you feel about swarms of freshwater mosasaurs? I Okay, swarm is a little bit of an overstatement. At least four of them. Meet Garamaudo bauciensis the new freshwater mosasaur from Cretaceous France. And I do mean freshwater. Not brackish, not estuarine. This animal was discovered in 84 million year old lake deposits. It's a Tethysaurine mosasaurid, and they were an early group of mosasaurs, which which is why you might notice something a little weird about this one. Yeah, those those those feet, cuz it had true feet. It also has a true pelvis that actually attaches to the spine, unlike the floating group of leftover bones you expect to see in a mosasaur pelvis. So, you're probably wondering, with feet and an actual pelvis, could it just go on land? And yeah, according to researchers, it could. It wouldn't have been great on land. It wouldn't have been its favorite place. It has extremely dense bones, which would make things uncomfortable. Even though it was much more built for swimming and diving, it could potentially go on land if it needed to. Which also would have been a little difficult, cuz it has a body that's pretty flat side to side, which would have been great for undulating like an eel to swim and dive and hunt, but probably not the best body shape on land. I mean, it's kind of the exact opposite of a lot of their squamate relatives. And it's not just known from one specimen or one individual. This animal is known from four different individuals, meaning that yeah, swarm was probably an overstatement. But even as the 8-ft apex predator of their ecosystem, they probably weren't extremely rare. As usual, if you want more information, here's the source.