An examination of fossils found decades ago revealed a new species of T. Rex. This T. Rex swam in the ocean but was undoubtedly as terrifying as its terrestrial namesake.
Growing up to 43 feet long with serrated teeth, the newly described Tylosaurus rex, or "king of the tylosaurs," is one of the largest mosasaurs known to date. This massive marine reptile lived during the age of dinosaurs and its description is based on 80-million-year-old fossils found primarily in northern Texas decades ago.
Amelia Zietlow is the lead author of a new study published in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History and was a graduate student in comparative biology at the museum's Richard Gilder Graduate School. She discovered a mosasaur fossil that she believed was misidentified as Tylosaurus proriger.
Comparison of this fossil with T. proriger's holotype, or reference example, revealed that the specimen, along with over a dozen others, was indeed a different, newly identified species. The new species' massive size and strong neck and jaw muscles led to the designation of Tylosaurus rex.
The majority of T. proriger fossils were found in what is now Kansas, while most of the newly identified T. rex fossils are found in Texas. "Everything is bigger in Texas, and that includes the mosasaurs, apparently," Zietlow said.
Previously:
• The Dinosaurs arrive with Morgan Freeman
• Science Question From a Toddler: Omnivore Dinosaur
• Baby dinosaurs were prehistoric latchkey kids
