The ‘Jaws of Death’ lizard that terrorized oceans 80 million years ago


By Paula Froelich September 26, 2020 

A cast of the mosasaur Gnathomortis Stadtmani's bones at Brigham Young University's Eyring Science Center in Utah.REUTERS


You’re gonna need a much, much bigger boat.

Eighty million years ago, a 33-foot-long apex predator lizard scientists have now dubbed “The Jaws of Death,” with powerful jaws and an extra set of teeth on the roof of its mouth, terrorized the oceans.

While dinosaurs dominated land, the mososaur ruled the seas.

A cast of the mosasaur Gnathomortis Stadtmani's.
REUTERS

The fossils of the creature from the Cretaceous Period were discovered near Cedaredge, Colorado, in 1975 but a new analysis obtained by CNN shows greater insight into the monster.

Joshua Lively, curator of paleontology at the Utah State University Eastern Prehistoric Museum, gave it the new scientific name Gnathomortis stadtmani, meaning “Jaws of Death.”

“In general, mosasaurs actually filled a lot of roles in the oceans over the last 15 million years of the age of dinosaurs,” Lively told CNN. “Some specialized in eating clams, some were fish specialists, and others were clearly macropredators that could devour anything smaller than them. This mosasaur was one of the latter. If you were an animal in the oceans less than 6 meters (20 feet) in length, you are most likely on the menu for Gnathomortis.”

FILED UNDER ARCHAEOLOGY , DINOSAURS , LIZARDS , 9/26/20