All articles tagged with #western interior seaway
The piece invites viewing the United States through its natural contours—pine-cone variations signaling biomes, evidence of the ancient Western Interior Seaway, migratory links between shorebirds and horseshoe crabs, Appalachian topography shaping salamander diversity, and the Chesapeake Bay watershed—demonstrating how nature and culture cross state lines, as highlighted in Smithsonian’s From These Lands exhibition.
Paleontologists have identified Tylosaurus rex as a distinct, giant mosasaur—about 13 meters long with serrated teeth and powerful jaws—living roughly 80 million years ago in the Western Interior Seaway; it was the sea’s equivalent of Tyrannosaurus rex in size and ferocity.
Paleontologists describe a gigantic new mosasaur, Tylosaurus rex, up to 43 feet long with serrated teeth, discovered mainly in Texas. Larger than the previously known Tylosaurus proriger, it indicates a formidable open-water predator in North America’s Western Interior Seaway, with several famous museum specimens reclassified under the new species and findings published in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History.
Researchers have discovered a new species of mosasaur, named Jormungandr walhallaensis, which lived about 80 million years ago in the Western Interior Seaway. Measuring 24 feet long, Jormungandr is believed to bridge the gap between two iconic species of mosasaurs. The fossil specimen includes a nearly complete skull and various skeletal elements, providing valuable insights into the evolution and diversity of these ancient marine reptiles. The discovery expands the known range of mosasaurs and contributes to a better understanding of their relationships within the family tree.