{"id":29337,"date":"2023-05-30T13:19:02","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T13:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ancient-aquatic-reptile-with-bizarre-screwdriver-teeth-discovered-off-morocco"},"modified":"2023-05-30T13:36:25","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T13:36:25","slug":"ancient-aquatic-reptile-with-bizarre-screwdriver-teeth-discovered-off-morocco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ancient-aquatic-reptile-with-bizarre-screwdriver-teeth-discovered-off-morocco","title":{"rendered":"Ancient Aquatic Reptile With Bizarre \u2018Screwdriver Teeth\u2019 Discovered Off Morocco"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>The strange specimen is distinguished by the numerous vertical blades on its teeth, which resemble the tip of a Phillips-head screwdriver. Paleontologists have discovered a now extinct species of mosasaur with bizarre screwdriver-like teeth that researchers say are like that of which they\u2019ve never seen.<\/p>\n

The new species, Stelladens mysteriosus, \u201cwas around twice the size of a dolphin\u201d and had \u201ca unique tooth arrangement with blade-like ridges running down the teeth, arranged in a star-shaped pattern, reminiscent of a cross-head screwdriver,\u201d according to a press release by the UK\u2019s University of Bath, which announced its discovery this week.<\/p>\n

Its \u201cstrange, ridged teeth\u201d are \u201cunlike those of any known reptile,\u201d the university noted. Mosasaurs are huge, late Cretaceous-era aquatic reptiles which have been familiar to scientists for hundreds of years.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s the first time one with such an unusual dental arrangement has been identified, according to the lead author of the study, the Milner Centre for Evolution\u2019s Dr.<\/p>\n

Nick Longrich. The specimen is \u201cnot like any mosasaur, or any reptile, even any vertebrate we\u2019ve seen before,\u201d Longrich explained. Other experts expressed their surprise at the finding as well. Dr.<\/p>\n

Nathalie Bardet, a specialist in marine reptile life at the Museum of Natural History in Paris, said she was both \u201cperplexed and amazed\u201d at the discovery, noting: \u201cI\u2019ve worked on the mosasaurs of Morocco for more than 20 years, and I\u2019d never seen anything like this before.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. The strange specimen is distinguished by the numerous vertical blades on its teeth, which resemble the tip of a Phillips-head screwdriver. Paleontologists have discovered a now extinct species of mosasaur with bizarre screwdriver-like teeth that researchers say are like that of which they\u2019ve never seen. The new species, Stelladens mysteriosus, \u201cwas around […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":29336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[233,246,245,841],"class_list":["post-29337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho","tag-uk"],"yoast_head":"\nAncient Aquatic Reptile With Bizarre \u2018Screwdriver Teeth\u2019 Discovered Off Morocco - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The strange specimen is distinguished by the numerous vertical blades on its teeth, which resemble the tip of a Phillips ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ancient-aquatic-reptile-with-bizarre-screwdriver-teeth-discovered-off-morocco\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ancient Aquatic Reptile With Bizarre \u2018Screwdriver Teeth\u2019 Discovered Off Morocco\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The strange specimen is distinguished by the numerous vertical blades on its teeth, which resemble the tip of a Phillips ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ancient-aquatic-reptile-with-bizarre-screwdriver-teeth-discovered-off-morocco\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-30T13:19:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-30T13:36:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/05\/sm_1685437123.313756.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ancient-aquatic-reptile-with-bizarre-screwdriver-teeth-discovered-off-morocco#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ancient-aquatic-reptile-with-bizarre-screwdriver-teeth-discovered-off-morocco\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Ancient Aquatic Reptile With Bizarre \u2018Screwdriver Teeth\u2019 Discovered Off Morocco\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-30T13:19:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-30T13:36:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ancient-aquatic-reptile-with-bizarre-screwdriver-teeth-discovered-off-morocco\"},\"wordCount\":264,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ancient-aquatic-reptile-with-bizarre-screwdriver-teeth-discovered-off-morocco#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/05\/sm_1685437123.313756.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\",\"UK\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ancient-aquatic-reptile-with-bizarre-screwdriver-teeth-discovered-off-morocco#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ancient-aquatic-reptile-with-bizarre-screwdriver-teeth-discovered-off-morocco\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/ancient-aquatic-reptile-with-bizarre-screwdriver-teeth-discovered-off-morocco\",\"name\":\"Ancient Aquatic Reptile With Bizarre \u2018Screwdriver Teeth\u2019 Discovered Off Morocco - 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