Researchers from the University of Bath in the UK examined the skeletal remains they found in a mine in Khouribga, Morocco, BBC reported.
The researchers determined that the remains belonged to a new species from the mosasaur family, about 8 meters long, with a "terrifying face and teeth like knives", and stated that this sea lizard was one of the top predators at the top of the food chain in the Atlantic Ocean off the Moroccan coast.
THE NAME IS A COMBINATION OF ARABIC AND LATIN
Noting that the sea lizard whose remains were found may have lived at the same time as dinosaurs such as tyrannosaurus rex (T-rex) about 66 million years ago, researchers named this mosasaur species "khinjaria acuta" because of its sharp teeth.
Scientists formed this name by combining the Arabic word "khinjar" meaning "dagger" and the Latin word "acuta" meaning "sharp".
Mosasaurs are said to be large marine reptiles that lived in Antarctica during the dinosaur era and became extinct.
The results of the research were published on the website "Science Direct".
