The discovery of Jörmungandr walhallaensis, a brand-new mosasaur types, offers vital insights into the advancement of these ancient marine lizards and the geologic history of late Cretaceous North America. Discovered near Walhalla, North Dakota, this transitional species fills a gap in between primitive and more sophisticated mosasaurs and recommends brand-new information about their aquatic adaptations and family tree.
Jormungandr, an enormous 24-foot-long marine lizard that lived 80 million years back, is discovered to be a transitional types between 2 widely known mosasaurs.
Scientists have recently recognized a brand-new species of mosasaur, which were large, carnivorous water lizards that resided in the late Cretaceous duration. With “transitional” characteristics that place it in between 2 well-known mosasaurs, the new types is named after a sea snake in Norse folklore, Jormungandr, and the little North Dakota city Walhalla near to where the fossil was found. A paper describing Jǫrmungandr walhallaensis was recently released in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History..
Comparative Features and Historical Context.
” If you put flippers on a Komodo dragon and made it actually huge, thats basically what it would have appeared like,” stated the research studys lead author Amelia Zietlow, a Ph.D. trainee in relative biology at the American Museum of Natural Historys Richard Gilder Graduate School.
The very first mosasaur was found more than 200 years earlier, and the word “mosasaur” predates the word “dinosaur.” Many questions about these animals stay, including how lots of times they developed flippers and became totally marine– scientists think it was at least 3 times, and maybe four or more– and whether they are more closely associated to monitor snakes or lizards. Researchers are still attempting to determine how the various groups of mosasaurs relate to each other, and the new research study includes a brand-new piece to that puzzle.
A line drawing of the skull of Jormungandr walhallaensis. Credit: Henry Sharpe.
The Fossil Discovery.
The fossil on which the research study is based was discovered in 2015, when researchers excavating in the northeastern part of North Dakota found an excellent specimen: an almost total skull, jaws, and cervical spinal column, along with a variety of vertebrae.
After substantial analysis and surface scanning of the fossil product, Zietlow and her collaborators found that this animal is a brand-new species with a mosaic of features seen in two renowned mosasaurs: Clidastes, a smaller and more primitive kind of mosasaur; and Mosasaurus, a larger form that grew to be almost 50 feet long and lived alongside Tyrannosaurus rex. The specimen is estimated to be about 24 feet long, and in addition to flippers and a shark-like tail, it would have had “mad eyebrows” caused by a bony ridge on the skull, and a somewhat stumpy tail that would have been shorter than its body.
Evolutionary Insights and Geological Significance.
” As these animals developed into these huge sea monsters, they were continuously making changes,” Zietlow stated. “This work gets us one step more detailed to comprehending how all these various types relate to one another.”.
The work suggests that Jormungandr was a precursor to Mosasaurus and that it would have lived about 80 million years earlier.
” This fossil is coming from a geologic time in the United States that we do not really understand,” stated co-author Clint Boyd, from the North Dakota Geological Survey. “The more we can complete the temporal and geographic timeline, the better we can understand these animals.”.
Coauthor Nathan Van Vranken from Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College added, “The tale of Jormungandr paints a wonderful image and helps add to our understanding of the northernmost areas of the interior seaway, particularly with the mosasaurs, and discoveries such as these can pique clinical interest.”.
Recommendation: “Jormungandr walhallaensis: a brand-new mosasaurine (Squamata: Mosasauroidea) from the Pierre Shale Formation (Pembina Member: Middle Campanian) of North Dakota” by Amelia R. Zietlow, Clint A. Boyd and Nathan E. Van Vranken, 30 October 2023, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History.DOI: 10.5531/ sd.sp.60.
The discovery of Jörmungandr walhallaensis, a new mosasaur species, offers important insights into the advancement of these ancient marine lizards and the geologic history of late Cretaceous North America. Found near Walhalla, North Dakota, this transitional species fills a gap between primitive and more innovative mosasaurs and recommends brand-new information about their marine adaptations and lineage. Scientists have actually just recently identified a new species of mosasaur, which were large, carnivorous marine lizards that lived in the late Cretaceous period. With “transitional” traits that put it in between two popular mosasaurs, the new types is named after a sea snake in Norse mythology, Jormungandr, and the small North Dakota city Walhalla near to where the fossil was found. Researchers are still attempting to identify how the different groups of mosasaurs are associated to each other, and the new research study adds a brand-new piece to that puzzle.