Friday, May 30, 2014

[Geology2] UK Paleontologists Find Huge Tooth Fossil of Dakosaurus maximus



UK Paleontologists Find Huge Tooth Fossil of Dakosaurus maximus

May 30, 2014 by Sci-News.com

Dr Mark Young from the University of Edinburgh and his colleagues have discovered a unique fossilized tooth belonging to Dakosaurus maximus, a prehistoric relative of modern crocodiles that lived in the shallow seas of what is now Europe during the Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago.

A tooth of Dakosaurus maximus in lingual, labial, basal and apical view. Scale bar - 1 cm. Image credit: Mark T. Young et al.

A tooth of Dakosaurus maximus in lingual, labial, basal and apical view. Scale bar – 1 cm. Image credit: Mark T. Young et al.

Dakosaurus maximus measured up to about 4.5 m long and belonged to a family of marine animals known as thalattosuchians.

The unusual shape of the animal's skull and teeth suggests it ate similar prey to modern-day killer whales.

The animal would have used its broad, short jaws to swallow large fish whole and to bite chunks from larger prey.

A huge, about 5.5 cm long, tooth of Dakosaurus maximus was collected from Kimmeridge Clay Formation in Dorset, England. It is the largest known British specimen of the genus Dakosaurus.

Life restoration of Dakosaurus maximus, center, and two Gnathosaurus subulatus. Image credit: Dmitry Bogdanov / CC BY 3.0.

Life restoration of Dakosaurus maximus, center, and two Gnathosaurus subulatus. Image credit: Dmitry Bogdanov / CC BY 3.0.

"The circumstances in which the fossil was found were unusual – it was dredged from the sea floor rather than being found on the shore or dug up," said Dr Young, who is the lead author of a paper published in the journal Historical Biology.

"Given its size, Dakosaurus had very large teeth. However, it wasn't the top marine predator of its time, and would have swum alongside other larger marine reptiles, making the shallow seas of the Late Jurassic period exceptionally dangerous."

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Mark T. Young et al. Largest known specimen of the genus Dakosaurus (Metriorhynchidae: Geosaurini) from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Late Jurassic) of England, and an overview of Dakosaurus specimens discovered from this formation (including reworked specimens from the Woburn Sands Formation). Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology, published online May 16, 2014; doi: 10.1080/08912963.2014.915822

http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/science-tooth-fossil-dakosaurus-maximus-01954.html

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