Mososaurus appeared in the late Cretaceous (95-65 Million years ago) and disappeared at the end of the period. They lived during the late Cretaceous/Teolithic period of 25-30 million years. Etymologically meaning “Meuse monster”, the huge, well-preserved skull was first found by chance in the early 1800s in the 65-70 Million year old late Cretaceous outcrops in the Belgian Mouse river bed.
Fossils of this species have so far been found in only 7 localities in the world. It was found in the USA, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Poland, Bulgaria, Turkey and most recently in Italy in 2014. Turkish M. hoffmanni is the youngest fossil from these seven localities. It was the largest creature in the oceans at that time and was 15-17 meters long. Only the skull is 1.5 meters long. The rocks in which the fossil is found are 65 million years old and 65 million years ago, almost all of Anatolia was under marine, oceanic conditions.
The fossil remains of the Turkish Mosasaurus hofmanni, informally known as the “dinosaur of the seas” or the “cousin of dinosaurs”, found in only 7 locations in the world so far, including Kastamonu/Devrekani, are now on display at Hacettepe University, Department of Geological Engineering.
I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Nathalie Bardet for her support and assistance in the discovery of the Turkish Mosasaurus hoffmanni with taxonomic, stratigraphic and environmental descriptions and interpretations (Bardet & Tunoglu, 2002, Tunoglu & Bardet, 2006) and Prof. Dr. Anusuya Chinsamy Turan for her support and assistance with bone tissue, mineral, petrography, geochemistry and radiometric age studies (Chinsamy, Tunoglu & Tomas, 2012).