Researchers Identify 43-Foot Tylosaurus rex From 80-Million-Year-Old Texas Fossils
Updated
Updated · CNN · May 28
Researchers Identify 43-Foot Tylosaurus rex From 80-Million-Year-Old Texas Fossils
6 articles · Updated · CNN · May 28
A new study described Tylosaurus rex as a giant mosasaur that grew up to 43 feet long and lived about 80 million years ago in the inland sea covering part of North America.
More than a dozen fossils long labeled Tylosaurus proriger were reclassified after Amelia Zietlow and coauthors compared specimens across 22 museums and found consistent species-level differences.
The newly named marine predator appears larger and more powerfully built than T. proriger, with serrated teeth, heavier jaw muscles and a skull feature linked to stronger neck-muscle attachment.
Texas specimens donated over decades by amateur paleontologists helped build the case, underscoring how museum collections and community finds can still yield species new to science.
The finding suggests Tylosaurus was more diverse than previously thought and adds another top Cretaceous predator alongside the land-dwelling Tyrannosaurus rex.
What evidence suggests Tylosaurus rex violently battled its own kind for supremacy in the ancient oceans?
What drove the evolution of this sea rex's unique serrated teeth, a rare and deadly trait for its kind?
What other prehistoric 'kings' might be hiding in plain sight, misidentified for decades in museum collections?