Sea Monster 'Predator X' Gets Official Name

(yahoo.co.id) Giant marine reptiles that explore the oceans around 150 million years ago, officially recorded as a new species, according to researchers. Animals called pliosaur funkei has a length of 12 meters and 2 meters long skull with a bite four times more powerful than Tyrannosaurus rex.

"They are major predators in the ocean," said one researcher Patrick Druckenmiller, a paleontologist at the University of Alaska Museum. "The teeth of these creatures will make T. rex goosebumps."

If the fossil findings are combined, the giant skeleton of P. funkei describe the newly discovered ancient Jurassic era sea filled with giant predators.

In 2006, scientists dig two large pliosaur skeleton in Svalbard, Norway, a series of islands in the middle between Europe and the North Pole. These giant creatures, one of which is called Predator X, looks somewhat different from other pliosaur found in England and France in the last half century.

Now after a year researching and analyzing in detail the jaw, spine, and the front of the body, the researchers concluded that the Predator X is a new species. Officially they gave the name Bjonr and May-Liss Funke, two volunteers who first discovered the fossils.

Pliosaur is a marine reptile that lived between 160 million-145 million years ago in the Jurassic period. They have a short neck, large body at the top and tapers at the foot, and four fins that allow them to "move as if flying in the air," said Druckenmiller told LiveScience.

The new species probably lived 145 million years ago and eating plesiosaur, a marine reptile other relatives, long neck and small head.

Recent analysis shows that P. funkei have front flippers are proportionally longer than another pliosaur, as well as the shape of the spine, as well as the distance of the teeth in the jaw, Druckenmiller said.

In 2008, scientists initially estimated Predator X can reach a length of 15 meters. Recent scientific studies indicate that living is smaller than expected, but still larger than the largest apex predators alive today, killer whales 9 feet in length, Druckenmiller said.

Funkei pliosaur fossils are just two of nearly 40 specimens were found in Svalbard. Norwegian Journal of Geology at the October 12 issue, the authors also mention there are two new ichtyosaurus, or dolphin-like reptile, the longest neck plesiosaurs from the Jurassic era, and some invertebrates.

Overall these fossils that illustrate the ancient Arctic sea full of scary predators and invertebrate fauna, says study coauthor John Hurum of the University of Oslo via email.

"We not only found a new species, but we found a network of ecosystems," said Druckenmiller.

(yahoo.co.id)