(ORDO NEWS) — Back in 1995, scientists discovered on the territory of modern Wyoming the fossilized remains of an amazing sea monster that had a long neck and jaws like crocodiles.
Despite the fact that most of the plesiosaurs of the Upper Cretaceous period were characterized by either a short neck with a long crocodile jaw, or a long neck and a short head.
But the find, described in a new iScience article, combines both attributes of ancient dinosaurs.
Paleontologists named their find Serpentisuchops pfisterae, which roughly stands for “snake crocodile.”
The remains of this monster have been on display for the past 25 years at a paleontological museum near Casper, Wyoming.
In the decades after their discovery, scientists have conducted a detailed analysis of approximately 35% of the monster’s body.
The studied parts of the animal’s body included an excellently preserved upper jaw, a decent part of the skull, an entire neck, vertebrae, a significant part of the tail and several ribs.
According to paleontologists, only the limbs or fins that they used for swimming were missing.
Their find indicates that there was a completely new ecotype, which was different from all its relatives that existed with it at the same time.
At the same time, the animal had “devices” to do many things differently from other animals that share the same environment with it.
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