New marine reptile discovered from Moroccan fossils

Scientists have identified a new species of giant prehistoric marine reptile from fossils found in Morocco, as reported by the Moroccan government-friendly Yabiladi and agencies on March 7th.

The species lived around 66 million years ago during the final stage of the Cretaceous period. It belonged to the mosasaurs, a group of large marine reptiles that lived in the oceans during the age of the dinosaurs.

The animal has been named Pluridens imelaki. Researchers identified the species from fossils discovered in phosphate deposits in Morocco’s Khouribga region, including remains found in phosphate beds in the Oulad Abdoun Basin near Sidi Chennane.

Scientists said the predator could have grown to more than nine metres in length. The remains include a skull measuring roughly 1.25 metres long and parts of the lower jaw.

Researchers said only one specimen of the species has been found despite decades of fossil collecting in the region.

The discovery was described in a study published in the journal Diversity. The research involved palaeontologists, including Nicholas Longrich of the University of Bath and Nour-Eddine Jalil of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris and the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle de Marrakech.

Researchers said the shape of the animal’s jaws, teeth and eyes suggests it hunted differently from other mosasaurs that lived in the same seas.

Scientists say the discovery adds to evidence that several different mosasaur species lived in the seas around North Africa shortly before the end of the Cretaceous period.

Morocco’s phosphate deposits are among the world’s richest sources of mosasaur fossils. Researchers have reported several recent discoveries from the deposits, and scientists continue to examine material from the region

The fossils come from rocks that formed in a shallow sea along the ancient Tethys Ocean, which once covered parts of North Africa. Scientists say the discoveries help them better understand marine life in the region shortly before the extinction that ended the dinosaurs.

 

Yabiladi and agencies, Maghrebi.org