In the Dinosauria Museum Prague we have a new display case with Tethysaurus nopcsai (age: 93-89 million years, length: up to 3 meters, weight: 70 kg).

The genus name Tethysaurus is derived from the Greek goddess of the seas, Tethys. The generic nopcsai is in honour of the eminent Hungarian palaeontologist Baron Ferenc Nopcsai. Tethysaurs are an evolutionarily very important group. They are the link between the evolutionarily original aigialosaurids, a group of amphibious scaly reptiles closely related to snakes, and the mosasaurids themselves, which include our Sam and Max.

Tethysaurs were not yet fully adapted to life in the water like their later relatives. Their limbs may have been connected by swim bladders, but they lacked something in the way of full flippers. It is thought that they kept mainly to shallow waters and did not venture into the open sea. From their teeth, we can reliably say that they fed on fish.

Come and see the new showcase at the Dinosauria Museum Prague!