The North Dakotan ‘sea dragon’, Jormungandr
In October, paleontologists announced the discovery of Jormungandr walhallaensis, a 24-foot-long lizard that inhabited the Western Interior Seaway about 80 million years ago. Mosasaurs were massive reptiles that ruled the world’s oceans in the Cretaceous period, and J. walhallaensis—among the northernmost mosasaurs found in the ancient seaway—was no exception. The fossil is named for the son of Loki in Norse mythology as a nod to its findspot, near Walhalla, North Dakota.
