The mosasaur vertebra measured more than seven inches wide. James Starnes
Smithsonian Magazine has a story about the discovery of a very large mosasaur in Mississippi. The animal was about 30 feet long and lived about 66 million year ago. A single vertebra was more 7 inches wide. It was found sticking out of the mud of the Prarie Bluff Formation of Oktibbeha County in east-central Mississippi. It is believed to belong to a specimen of Mosasaurus hoffmannii, which is one of the largest known species of mosasaur.
After the scientists carefully pulled the object from the sediment, they knew right away they’d found something special. It was a massive, fossilized mosasaur vertebra that measured more than seven inches across at its widest point. They were ecstatic.
“I … was completely awe-struck by its size,” James Starnes, a geologist at the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality who first spotted the bone, tells Live Science’s Patrick Pester. “The feeling you get when you find a fossil, even as a professional, never gets old. But when you find something you have never seen before, the elation can be overwhelming.”
