Artist’s impression Carinodensa mosasaur that scientists could manipulate the remains of and then label as a new species.
Henry Sharpe
The remains of a strange “shark-toothed” aquatic predator that co-existed with the dinosaurs were probably forged, according to new research.
The controversial fossil of a jaw fragment was apparently collected by miners working in Morocco’s Sidi Chennane phosphate mines in a rock between 66 and 72 million years old. Nick Longrich At the University of Bath in the UK and his colleagues analyzed the discovery and classified it as a new species of designated mosasaur Xenodens calminechari in 2021
The fossil has very unusual blade-like teeth similar to those of sharks, which Longrich and his colleagues suggested would have helped cut down large prey.
Morocco is very rich in mosasaur fossils, he says Henry Sharpe at the University of Alberta in Canada. “Miners working in phosphate mines encounter mosasaurs all the time.”
The problem is that many people in Morocco make a living selling fossils, says Sharpe. “Many of the mosasaur fossils sold from Morocco are modified (there) – teeth are added, bones are sculpted, all to make the fossils more valuable to sell.”
Sharpe and his colleagues have now reviewed the evidence published by Longrich’s team. The biggest indication that the fossil is forged is the teeth, says Sharpe. Each mosasaur tooth corresponds to a jaw pit. “Even if the fossil is of very poor quality, you can count the correct number of teeth by counting the number of these pits,” he says. But to X. calminecha it has four teeth in two pits.
The teeth appear to be stuck to the jaw in ways that don’t match the pits, Sharpe says. “The dental implant appears to be fake.”
There are ways to determine if a fossil was faked, Sharp says. Usually, fakes are carved using a mixture of bone fragments and glue, and then embedded in a mixture of glue and sand that looks like natural stone. CT scans allow you to see the underlying bones and stones to determine if they have changed.
“CT scan fossils are common, and really should be the standard for mosasaurs from Morocco,” says Sharpe.
Rather than a new species, Sharpe’s team suspects the fossil represents a well-known mosasaur. Its teeth are similar to those of young mosasaurs Carinodens and Globidenssays Sharpe.
“I applaud the authors of this paper,” he says Valentina Rossi University College Cork in Ireland. “To deal with this (forgery) problem, we need to continue to talk about it (and) report fossils that have been prepared in ways that are misleading.”
There can be many reasons for producing forged fossils, but mostly it comes down to money, says Rossi. “A broken fossil bone won’t sell, but a whole piece, like a jawbone full of well-preserved teeth, will probably sell well,” he says.
Countries like Canada largely prohibit the private sale of fossils, Sharpe says. Without such regulations, you may be tempted to adjust fossils to get high prices.
Longrich was reached for comment for this story, but did not respond. Sharp hopes Longrich’s team will CT scan the fossil and publish the results. “Scientific consensus is not achieved by agreement; it goes from disagreement until both sides gather enough data to answer the question,” he says.
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