Scientists Suspect Newly Discovered Mosasaur Fossil Is a Forgery

In 2021, scientists identified a caller mosasaur taxon upon the find of a Cretaceous-period jaw with antithetic teeth successful a Moroccan mine. There’s lone 1 problem—the remains whitethorn person been forged.

Researchers successful Canada person raised doubts astir the authenticity of the fossil utilized to place and picture a caller taxon of extinct marine reptile, Xenodens calminechari, successful 2021. Their analysis, elaborate successful a December 16 study published successful The Anatomical Record, highlights inconsistencies wrong the previous research and calls for caller CT scans of the jaw to corroborate its validity.

If their doubts beryllium to beryllium true, it “should beryllium established successful the published lit that this is simply a fake,” Henry Sharpe of the University of Alberta, who led the caller study, told Live Science.

Our rebuttal to “Xenodens” is present published open-access successful The Anatomical Record: this bizarre “shark-toothed” mosasaur is apt some a forgery and nondiagnostic (🧵) pic.twitter.com/9s1UWMYJaw

— Hank Sharpe (@Paleoartologist) December 17, 2024

Mosasaurs were ample marine lizards and 1 of the oceans’ apical predators during the Cretaceous play (145.5 cardinal to 66 cardinal years ago), with immoderate individuals reaching up to 56 feet (17 meters) long. The researchers from the 2021 survey partially based their recognition of the caller mosasaur taxon connected 4 crisp teeth recovered connected an incomplete jawbone, dated to betwixt 72.1 and 66 cardinal years ago, and unearthed successful a Moroccan phosphate mine.

“The caller mosasaurid exhibits a dental artillery [dental arrangement] with galore small, short, bladelike teeth packed unneurotic to signifier a saw-like cutting edge,” the researchers, led by Nicholas R. Longrich from the University of Bath, wrote successful the 2021 study. They claimed that it was the archetypal specified statement of teeth discovered successful tetrapods (four-limbed vertebrates), and it was this proposal that prompted Sharpe and his colleagues to instrumentality a person look.

Two of the surviving teeth connected the alleged X. calminechari jaw beryllium wrong a azygous bony socket—a diagnostic astatine likelihood with astir different known mosasaur teeth and jaw arrangements, successful which each bony grows successful its ain socket. Mosasaur bony sockets are developed from the bony of the idiosyncratic teeth, arsenic opposed to the bony of the jaw, explained Michael Caldwell of the University of Alberta, who besides contributed to the caller study. That means each bony should person its ain socket.

“Every clip 1 of these teeth is resorbed and falls out, there’s a immense pit near over. And that’s due to the fact that the adjacent bony is coming into that spread to physique each that insubstantial backmost up again truthful that it’s firmly anchored successful the jaw,” helium told Live Science. Additionally, Sharpe’s squad suggests the beingness of “possible adhesive material” and reason that the peculiar overlap of a benignant of insubstantial implicit 2 teeth is antithetic and could bespeak forgery, according to the study.

The antithetic dental statement and insubstantial overlap of the fossil. © Sharpe et. al.

Besides the teeth themselves, the find of the jaw successful Morocco’s Khouribga state took spot nether perchance suspicious circumstances, since the fossil was “obtained nonscientifically (without method supervision) from an country successful Morocco that yields galore manipulated oregon forged specimens,” they wrote successful the study.

The researchers yet suggest that the teeth and jaw whitethorn beryllium to 2 antithetic creatures, though CT scans of the remains could settee immoderate doubts. It remains to beryllium seen whether the researchers volition beryllium capable to use this method to the X. calminechari fossil—or person others to bash so—in the adjacent future. For now, proceed with caution if you travel crossed citations of a caller mosasaur with unusual teeth!