An international team managed to discover a new species of the huge Mosasaur in Khouribga (mid-northern Morocco), which lived in the Upper Cretaceous period 67 million years ago, when the Atlantic Ocean covered part of this country.

The results of the scientific study were published in the journal Cretaceous Research on August 24.

The international team included researchers from the National Museum of Natural History in France, the University of Bath in Britain, the University of Bilbao in Spain, and the OCP in Morocco.

Noureddine Jalil, the Moroccan researcher involved in the discovery - told Al Jazeera Net - via e-mail, "These new fossils were found with Moroccan phosphates, and they proved that they correspond to giant reptiles belonging to a new type of mosasaur, and this type is called Thalassotitan atrox, which It means the giant of the wild sea.

The discovery of thalassotitan in marine sediments of Moroccan phosphates (Kritachis Research)

A new type of mosasaur

According to a press release issued by the research team in France and a copy of which was obtained by Al-Jazeera Net correspondent, the mosasaurs in the Moroccan phosphates were very diverse, and Thalassotitan atroxes were a predator at the top of the food chain, such as modern killer whales or great white sharks.

"The discovery of thalassotitan in marine sediments of Moroccan phosphate confirms once again the ecological diversity of mosasaurs, and it provides a better understanding of marine ecosystems before the great mass extinction that occurred at the end of the Cretaceous period," he adds.

“Morocco phosphates are known all over the world for their richness in fossils, and mosasaurs are incredibly diverse with species adapted to hunt small prey such as fish and squid (thin, curved teeth) and others that feed on bivalve invertebrates or ammonites (straight and pointed teeth),” says Jalil. While the other species had a general diet."

He adds, "Fossils are not simple stones, but they are witnesses to past life, and each fossil carries a memory within it that tells about the anatomy of an animal or plant, its environment and the ancient climate in which it lived. Phosphate fossils give us information about the animals that lived in this sea at that time. This is more interesting because the fossils of Phosphates tell a long story about 24 million years ago."

There is interest in identifying giant reptiles with a length of 12 meters and a skull of 1.4 meters (Kretachis Research)

Learn about large marine reptiles

"This discovery helped us complete the picture we knew about the large marine reptiles that lived before the mass extinction," says Jalil. "With its massive jaws and teeth, Thalassotitan atrox was definitely a huge animal that fed on other marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs, sea turtles and even mosasaurs." other.

And he continues, "Most of the mosasaurs had a long jaw with slender teeth to catch fish, and Thalassotitan had a short and wide snout with huge conical teeth like those of a killer whale, and used its jaws and huge teeth to grab and tear large prey."

The researcher points out that the public may be interested in knowing that the areas where phosphates are found were covered by the sea during a period ranging from 46 to 72 million years, and this tells them that the face of the earth changes with the course of geological history, and that areas that are now land may be covered by the sea.

The general public will be interested in learning about a giant reptile with a skull length of 1.4 meters and a length of 12 meters.

Important results of the study

Regarding the results of the study, the Moroccan researcher said, "This study revealed the presence of a new type of mosasaur with Moroccan phosphate, which is a giant reptile that played the role of a huge predator in its ecosystem, and what is remarkable is the discovery of the remains of some potential victims of the Thalassotitan, and it is strange that many fossils of marine vertebrates are from the same layers The sedimentary has been damaged by acids, with teeth and bones melting.”

"Particularly preserved fossils include large predatory fish, sea turtles, a half-meter-long plesiosaur head, and jaw bones representing at least 3 different species of mosasaurs, and given that other fossils found a few centimeters away show that they are They are well preserved, and this indicates that the acidic conditions that melted these bones were not widespread."

Thalassotitan had a short and wide snout with huge conical teeth like those of a whale (Kretachis Research).

According to the scientific study that took a year to complete, the discovery of "Thlasotitan" also confirms the taxonomic and ecological diversity of Mosasaurs Phosphate Morocco, and that it gives one of the most complete pictures of marine ecosystems before the great mass extinction that led to the disappearance of many species including mosasaurs and non-avian dinosaurs.

The researcher stressed that there were no more difficulties than those faced by scientists when they discovered a new species, as it is necessary to compare fossils with all known species, search for the species closest to them, establish evolutionary relationships with other species, and highlight the characteristics of this discovery that make It can be distinguished by its relationship to others.

On the future of research with this scientific discovery, Jalil said in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, "In my opinion, phosphate did not reveal all its secrets. This is just the beginning of a long series of scientific discoveries, and it requires a lot of funding to continue to obtain it for study."

The researcher concluded that these fossils are the memory of Morocco’s phosphate, which is of scientific and heritage value, and deserves to be preserved in national museums on the one hand to be presented to the public and tell its story, and on the other hand to ensure its survival and transmission to future generations.