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SANTIAGO, Chile, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- The discovery of an ancient sea lizard skull has shed light on the diversity and distribution of mosasaurs, giant lizards that hunted marine reptiles during the Cretaceous period. The skull belongs to a newly named species, Kaikaifilu hervei. The name is derived from the mythology of the Mapuche, an indigenous people from Chile and Argentina.
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The fossil was discovered by a group of Chilean scientists digging on Seymour Island, part of a chain of islands stretching off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.
The paleontologists described the new species in the journal Cretaceous Research.
Scientists believe the newly discovered Kaikaifilu hervei's closest relative is Taniwhasaurus antarcticus, now the second-largest mosasaur species found in Antarctica.
The Kaikaifilu hervei skull stretches nearly four feet in length, making the species the largest mosasaur found in the Southern Hemisphere.
Because of the harsh conditions, paleontological records are scarce. New discoveries can have a tremendous scientific impact.
The discovery of Kaikaifilu hervei suggests scientists may have overestimate the diversity of mosasaur species in Antarctica. Much of what scientists know -- or think they know -- about Antarctic mosasaurs comes from fossil teeth.
However, scientists found evidence of heterodonty in the newly discovered skull -- an array of different tooth types coexisting in a single mosasaur mouth.
Scientists hope the skull's discovery is a sign of more to come. Historically, the majority of mosasaur fossils have been discovered in the Northern Hemisphere, but a paradigm shift has been underway in recent decades.
"The southern record has scarce mosasaur skulls, most of them found in New Zealand. However, in southern South America and Antarctica, mosasaur remains are especially scarce," study co-author Rodrigo Otero said in a news release. "Hence, the relevance of the new specimen, which shows a distant kinship with respect to the northern hemisphere mosasaurs."
The skull is also evidence of what scientists suspect but haven't yet been able to show: mosasaur abundance in Antarctica. The southern continent was once much warmer than it is now, a more hospitable place for plesiosaurs and other marine reptiles.
Slowly, the fossil record is beginning to reveal that abundance.
"Prior to this research, the known mosasaur remains from Antarctica provided no evidence for the presence of very large predators like Kaikaifilu, in an environment where plesiosaurs were especially abundant," Otero said. "The new find complements one expected ecological element of the Antarctic ecosystem during the latest Cretaceous."
