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About 66 million years ago , an ancient sea monster the height of a five - story office construction once gnashed its astute dentition as it swim around the dark water supply of Antarctica , a new written report find .
The newfound brute , known asa mosasaur — a Cretaceous - age aquatic reptilian that rush through the ancient sea using its paddle - corresponding branch and farsighted empennage — is only the second ossified mosasaur skull ever found in Antarctica .
Kaikaifilu herveiwas as long as a five-story building is tall. See the human for scale.
The mosasaur specimen is different enough from other known species that it specify for its own genus and species . researcher nominate itKaikaifilu herveiafter " Kai - Kai filú , " an almighty giant reptilian that owns the sea in legend from the Mapuche civilization from southerly Chile and Argentina . The coinage name honors Francisco Hervé , a world - renowned Chilean geologist and Antarctic adventurer , the researchers said . [ Image Gallery : Ancient Monsters of the Sea ]
Scientists with the Chilean Paleontological Expedition discovered the mosasaur skull on Seymour Island in January 2011 . The squad had incline into defective weather , and only during the last few days in the field of battle , while they were mucking around in knee - oceanic abyss mud , did they discover the enormous fossil , the researchers said .
base on the skull ’s anatomy and size ( 4 feet , or 1.2 meters , long ) , the reptilian ’s integral body unfold about 33 feet ( 10 m ) , making it the largest marine predator in the region , the researchers say .
Researchers found the mosasaurKaikaifilu herveiin Cretaceous-age rocks on Seymour Island in Antarctica (upper left).Kaikaifiluwas quite large. See the human for scale (upper right). Paleontologists struggled through Antarctica’s extreme climate when they excavated the specimen (lower right). The muddy site where experts foundKaikaifilu(bottom left).
North versus South
It ’s not uncommon to find mosasaur cadaver in North America , especially inthe seaway that once dividedthe East from the West in North America . But with the exception of New Zealand , it ’s comparatively rare to detect the jumbo creatures in the Southern Hemisphere , enjoin Rodrigo Otero , a paleontologist at the University of Chile and the lead investigator on the field of study .
Still , K. herveiwas a close congeneric of — and similar in size to — the North American mosasaur known asTylosaurus , which lived about 20 million years originally . K. herveiwas also a close relative of another Antarctic mosasaur ( Taniwhasaurus antarcticus ) , which was smaller , with a skull about 2.3 feet ( 0.7 m ) in duration , and lived about 5 million age beforeK. herveidid , the researchers said .
What ’s more , other researcher have found an raiment of otherisolated mosasaur teethin the rocks of Antarctica . Mosasaurs have multiple types of teeth ( a condition call heterodonty ) , mean that differently shaped tooth might belong to the same mosasaur species . Thus , investigator will require to be thrifty not to overestimate the number of species as they review the key teeth , the researcher said .
Warm Antarctic
AlthoughAntarcticais now a frigid continent , it was warm during the dinosaur age , the researchers tell . A slew of animals swam in the region ’s waters , givingK. herveia smorgasbord of coevals to dine on , they said .
For instance , the plesiosaurs — mostly long - neck maritime reptiles that wipe out plankton via filter alimentation — in all probability would have been prime targets forK. hervei , the researchers enunciate .
" Prior to this research , the known mosasaur remains from Antarctica provided no grounds for the presence of very large predators likeKaikaifilu , in an environment where plesiosaurs were peculiarly abundant , " Oterosaid in a affirmation . " The raw find complements one expect ecologic chemical element of the Antarctic ecosystem during the latest Cretaceous . "
The study was published online Nov. 4 in thejournal Cretaceous Research .
Original clause onLive Science .
