Dino card No. 1776 of 2,027

Tethysaurus

Say it: teh-THISS-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “Tethys' lizard of Nopcsa”1

Ate: MeatMosasaursLate CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Tethysaurus was a marine lizard that swam in warm seas about 90 million years ago. It was not a dinosaur, but a fierce predator that hunted fish and other sea creatures.1

Fun fact: this sea reptile swam while dinosaurs walked on land. Everyone calls them dinos, but they were a different branch of reptiles.

Lived

94 to 90 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Goulmima region, Errachidia Province, southern Morocco1 2

Food

Meat1

Length

2.5 to 3 m1

scientists estimate

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

as long as 3 dogs nose to tailas long as 17 bananas end to end

How big was Tethysaurus compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

Tethysaurus was a medium-sized mosasaur, less than 3 meters (9.8 feet) long.1

Its name comes from Tethys, the Greek goddess of the sea, and honors Hungarian paleontologist Baron Ferenc Nopcsa.1

Tethysaurus had a skull with a broad, rounded snout and two pairs of teeth in the premaxilla.2

It had 19 to 20 teeth in each upper jaw bone (maxilla) and at least 19 teeth in each lower jaw bone (dentary).2

Scientists think Tethysaurus was an early relative of later, bigger mosasaurs like Mosasaurus.1

Its fossils were found in limestone nodules that formed in a shallow, warm sea.2

AI-made picture of Tethysaurus — An AI-made picture of how Tethysaurus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Tethysaurus

?Was Tethysaurus a dinosaur?

No, Tethysaurus was a marine lizard called a mosasaur, not a dinosaur.1

?How big was Tethysaurus?

Tethysaurus was under 3 metres (9.8 feet) long, about as long as a small car.1

?What did Tethysaurus eat?

Tethysaurus was a predator that hunted fish and other sea creatures.1

?When did Tethysaurus live?

Tethysaurus lived during the Late Cretaceous period, about 93 to 89 million years ago.3

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Tethysaurus
Named by: Bardet et al. 20033
Group: Mosasaurs
Family / clade: Tethysaurinae3
Classification: Mosasauroidea3
Age of the rocks: 94 to 90 million years (Turonian)3
Rock formations: Akrabou3
Countries: Morocco3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Tethysaurus was named in 2003 by Nathalie Bardet, Xabier Pereda Suberbiola, and Nour-Eddine Jalil, based on a nearly complete skull and other bones found near Goulmima, Morocco.2
Still debated: Scientists are still debating exactly how Tethysaurus is related to other mosasaurs and whether it belongs in the family Mosasauridae or is a more primitive cousin.1

Where the facts come from

Tethysaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2003.09.006 (sciencepress.mnhn.fr)
Tethysaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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