It was a mosasaur, a member of an extinct family of ancient lizards related to modern-day snakes and monitor lizards. Sawtoothed Ancient LizardsOnly one fossil of Xenodens calminechari is known — appropriately enough, an upper jaw lined with a sawblade of teeth that was found by miners in Morocco. These teeth can “cut large bolts of flesh out as they scavenge,” paleontologist Nick Longrich, lead researcher on the team studying Xenodens calminechari, told Science News. But the seas covering North Africa, where Xenodens calminechari lived, were biologically rich and varied at just this time. The reason is that a wide variety of species goes along with a high degree of specialization among those species.

Source: The North Africa Journal June 30, 2021 13:07 UTC