The tiny fossils of the world's smallest Tylosaurus specimen can fit in the palm of a hand. The discovery of the specimen was aided by UAlberta paleontologists and alumni. Photo credit: Christina Byrd, Sternberg Museum of Natural History
Scientists have discovered an ancient baby sea monster in Kansas, United States. The newborn Tylosaurus fossil is approximately 85 million years old, and its discovery was aided by University of Alberta paleontologists and alumni.
The Tylosaurus specimen died shortly after it was born, making the fossil extremely difficult to identify as it had not yet developed the characteristic snout and teeth of adult Tylosaurus. As adults, the predatory reptiles could grow up to 13 metres in length, with powerful jaws and large teeth-not yet developed in the newborn fossil specimen.
This diagram illustrates the findings, which give paleontologists new insight into how Tylosaurus developed. Image credit: Takuya Konishi, University of Cincinnati
The research team is made of up two Faculty of Science alumni, Takuya Konishi and Paulina Jiménez-Huidobro, who collected these data during their PhD studies in the Department of Biological Sciences under the supervision of Professor Michael Caldwell.
"Having looked at the specimen in 2004 for the first time myself, it took me nearly 10 years to think outside the box and realize what it really was-a baby Tylosaurus yet to develop such a snout," sais Konishi, now a faculty member at the University of Cincinnati and lead author on the study.
The discovery also informs researchers about the development of Tylosaurus, learning that the development of the snout occurs between birth and juvenile stage, something previous studies had not yet determined.
"We have known for some time that these remains were the rarest of the rare-babies or just freshly born sea monsters," said Caldwell, co-author on the study. "I consider this to be success of the finest kind. Great science, great students, and careers made at the same time."
The paper, "The Smallest-Known Neonate Individual of Tylosaurus (Mosasauridae, Tylosaurinae) Sheds New Light on the Tylosaurine Rostrum and Heterochrony," was published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology(doi: 10.1080/02724634.2018.1510835).