UANL investigates fossil remains found in Linares

Paleontologist Javier Aguilar Pérez analyzes 70 fragments of fossil bones that could be from a maritime lizard different from those found to date all over the planet.

A new species of marine lizard is what Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon is discovering over time, since last August, 70 fragments of fossil bones were turned over to the university for study.

The discovery of this fossil organism, which to this day is related to a mosasaur of approximately seven meters and about four tons in weight, was made when a farmer from Linares, who was digging a well on his land, saw a series of rocks coming out of the ground that was not associated with the area, so he realized that they were bones of an animal, which at that moment seemed similar to those of a bovine cattle.

“We must clarify that those are not dinosaurs, they are marine lizards, and a farmer found them in one of the fields near Cerro Prieto,” says UANL geologist Javier Aguilar Perez.

To determine if it is a new species, they will have to study the size of each vertebra, its jaw, and the shape of the teeth, which are unique characteristics of the animal.