Aramberry Monster

Initially it was assumed that the remains belonged to a young individual, reaching at least 15 meters in length and retaining on its bones the teeth marks of an even larger pliosaur. But these assertions are not proven and are controversial ^[2] , and the fact that the detected animal allegedly reached 18 meters in length is nothing more than an invention of the media ^[3] . Initially, this pliozavroid was mistakenly defined as a giant liopleurodone ^[4] , and this erroneous conclusion was once interpreted in the BBC documentary film “ Walking with Dinosaurs, ” as well as in some other TV shows. However, French and German paleontologists identified the monster from Aramberri as a giant pliozavrida , who lived about 140 million years ago in shallow water areas where is now located .

Although the specimen was initially incorrectly described and classified, the assumption that the specimen was young and bore traces from the bites of another pliosaur remains possible, but not tested. The claim that the Monster of Aramberry is a young animal is currently debatable because the uncoupled condition of the arches of the vertebrae in relation to the bodies of large pliosaurs is pedomorphism ^[2] . It was reported that a puncture in the skull of a monster from Aramberry could have been left to animals with a tooth crown length of about 30 cm ^[5] . It is one of the largest known pliosaurs, and, perhaps, even the largest representative of the group ^[3] . However, recent size estimates, which are based on a comparison of Aramberry's Pliosaur's cervical vertebrae with a Kronosaur's cervical vertebrae (possibly its close relative ^[6] ), give smaller length numbers — on average, a total length of 11.7 meters and a body weight of 15 tons ^[2] . An earlier comparison with liopleprodon indicated a total animal length of about 15 meters ^{[2] [3] [7]} .

The excavation manager was Dr. José Guadalupe López Oliva of Facultad de Ciencias de la Tierra de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León. Other specialists involved were Dr. Wolfgang Stinnesbeck from Faculty of Geosciences of Karlsruhe University, Dr. Eberhard (“Dino”) Frey, and Dr. Marie Buchy from the Museum of Natural History of Karlsruhe, Germany ^[8] .

Excavations:

• In 2001, the site was evaluated and the fragmentary remains were restored. The layer that contained the remains of the pliosaurus was not identified.
• In 2002, excavations began, with the support of local residents, to clear a site containing bones of different sizes.
• Some of the remains were sent to the Karlsruhe Museum of Natural History.

On January 3, 2003, the remains of the Pliozavr arrived in Karlsruhe in 14 huge containers. The Museum of Natural History of Karlsruhe was called for its reconstruction.

The bones will be prepared by museum specialists for copying. A copy will remain in the museum, while the original will return to Mexico.

Since the Karlsruhe Museum of Natural History could no longer accept the remains due to its workload, the remains were sent to the Museum Del Desierto in Saltillo , Coahuila , as well as to Mexico, where Marie Buchy, a specialist in marine reptiles, is still studying them.

Currently, some of the fossils are on display in Museo de Historia Mexicana , in the temporarily named exposition “Fósiles Marinos de Nuevo Léon, antes mar, ahora montañas” ^[9] .

In November 2012, 27 years after the discovery of the animal, the remains of the Monster from Aramberry were transported to Facultad de Ciencias de la Tierra, located in Linares, Nuevo León, México in UANL ^[10]