Discovery of Tylosaurus Rex Fossil Challenges Mosasaur Evolution Assumptions
A fossil that had been stored in a museum for decades has been identified as a new species of mosasaur, named Tylosaurus rex. This prehistoric predator, which lived around 80 million years ago, was discovered in Texas and is believed to have been a dominant marine predator of its time. The fossil was initially misclassified as a different species, Tylosaurus proriger, but further examination revealed significant differences in the skull, jaw, and teeth, indicating a new species. The Tylosaurus rex was a massive creature, measuring up to 43 feet in length, and showed evidence of violent interactions with its own kind. This discovery was made by paleontologist Amelia Zietlow and her team, who reclassified several other fossils previously thought to belong to T. proriger as T. rex. 
