Tiny little fossils of tylosaur cast more light on this species of dinosaur

Scientists have discovered the smallest fossils of Tylosaurus ever found and learned more about this species of dinosaur. The results were presented in a new study published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

According to the researchers, the Tylosaurus fossils they found belong to a baby dinosaur, and the remains do not have the long snout that is a characteristic feature of this species. Scientists had to compare recently discovered fossils with those of young specimens of nearby species such as T. nepaeolicus and T. Proriger who presented the characteristic nose, and they revealed that the fossils belonged to a newborn Tylosaurus.

After examining the specimen in 2004 for the first time myself, it also took me nearly a decade to think about this box and realize what it really was like a baby Tylosaurus that did not Had not yet developed such a muzzle. During those 10 years or so, I had also thought that it was a newborn from Platecarpus, a medium-sized (5 to 6 m) mosasaur with short snout, and not Tylosaurus, a giant mosasaur (up to 13 m) with a protruding muzzle, "said Professor Takuya Konishi, Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Cincinnati.

Tiny little fossils of tylosaur cast more light on this species of dinosaur

According to the study, the long snout that characterizes the Tylosaurus species was developing rapidly, somewhere between birth and juvenile stage, a feat that previous research on this species of dinosaur had not revealed .

"Again, we were challenged to fill our lack of knowledge by testing our preconceived idea, which was in this case that Tylosaurus had to have a snout, a so-called" common knowledge, "Konishi said.

"As individual development and the history of evolution are generally linked, the new revelation suggests the possibility that Tylosaurus adults belonging to much older rock units were also muzzled, which we can test during future discoveries, "added the researcher.

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