Marine reptiles lived in the Cretaceous period (Twitter)
Researchers discover a new fossil for marine reptiles lived in Cretaceous period. The fossil was found in an ancient riverbed near Erfoud in southeastern Morocco.
And participated in the new discovery, the results of which were published periodically Cretaceous period researchLast Thursday, scientists from the British Universities of Bath and Portsmouth and from Morocco’s Hassan II University.
The researchers found the remains of bones, teeth and vertebrae from the neck and tail more than 100 million years old.
According to the research paper, these remains do not belong to one animal, but to several animals, but from the same species.
“The study began as a university project focusing on the remains of a single bone, but over time more plesiosaur fossils have emerged,” said lead researcher Georgina Bunker.
Samir Zuhri, a researcher at Hassan II University in Casablanca, commented that the new discovery “is added to a group of discoveries made by scientists in the Kumkum area over the past 15 years.”
This new discovery opens the debate about the ability of plesiosaur reptiles, which lived in the Jurassic period, to live in fresh water.
Earlier, scientists believed that these reptiles lived only in the waters of the oceans.
Scientists from the three universities hope that the new discovery will help in understanding the life of this type of reptile close to the dinosaur family.