The 70-mn years old marine dinosaur turns out to be a fossil fraud

A jawbone fossil found in a Moroccan mine was initially thought to belong to a new species of marine reptile from the Cretaceous period. However, other researchers now suspect the fossil might be fake, New Scientist reported.

The fossil was initially believed to be a new species of mosasaur called Xenodens calminechari. The reptile lived alongside dinosaurs during the Cretaceous period.

New research suggests that the remains of the discovered aquatic reptile are likely fake. The fossil had distinctive blade-like teeth. But recent study found issues in the theory, such as teeth not matching the jawbone and there are signs that the teeth were glued on. These findings suggest the fossil was altered to make it more valuable.

The disputed fossil was found by miners at the Sidi Chennane phosphate mines in Morocco. The rock is said to be 66 to 72 million years old.

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Nick Longrich and his team from the University of Bath, UK, studied the fossil in 2021. Their study identified it as a new species of mosasaur, called Xenodens calminechari.

The fossil has unusual blade-like teeth similar to those of sharks. Longrich and his team believe these teeth would help the marine predator cut through large prey.

Henry Sharpe of the University of Alberta in Canada, highlighted that many people in Morocco make a living by selling fossils. “So many of the mosasaur fossils being sold from Morocco are modified there—teeth are added, bones are sculpted, all to make the fossil worth more to sell,” said Henry Sharpe.

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Sharpe’s team re-examining the study

Sharpe and his team have now re-examined the evidence published by Longrich’s team.

The biggest clue that the fossil is fake is the teeth.  Each mosasaur tooth should match a pit in the jaw. “Even if the fossil is of poor quality, you can count the correct number of teeth by counting the pits,” he said. However, Xenodens calminechari has four teeth over two pits.

Teeth glued, implantation done on jaw

Sharpe also emphasised that the teeth seem to be glued onto the jaw in ways that don’t match the pits. “The tooth implantation looks likely to be faked,” he said.

Sharpe further explained that there are methods to determine if a fossil is forged. Forgeries are usually made by shaping bone fragments with glue and embedding them in a mix of glue and sand to resemble natural rock. CT scans can help see inside the bones and rock to check if they were altered.

Fossil forgery is not new

The discovery of a fossil of a 280-million-year-old reptile has been revealed as a partial forgery.

The fossil, discovered in the Italian Alps in 1931 and named Tridentinosaurus antiquus, was believed to show preserved soft tissues, which is rare and valuable for understanding early reptile evolution. However, recent analyses using modern techniques have shown that the dark outline around the skeleton, previously thought to be carbonised skin, is actually black paint.