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Description
Don't expect me to be updating all of Chased by Sea Monsters, as, one, I'm not very knowledgeable about the Paleozoic, and two, because this particular installment in the WW series, due to its distinct structure, would require reworkings beyond just the science, such as reshuffling the order of the "seven deadliest seas" and likley nixing some segments in favor of wholly new ones (you can't not make the Pisco Formation number one now, the discoveries of other large sea predators since 2003, Basilosaurus not being as formidable as shown in WW, the controversy regarding the size and shape Dunkleosteus, etc.), but I am more than willing to take a crack at updating the final segment of this mini-series, as it has quite a large and diverse cast of characters; 9 creatures if you count the cameos. Enough to be its own 30-minute episode. I'll just call it "Hell's Aquarium" (I guess the second deadliest sea in my vaguely defined idea for an updated Chased by Sea Monsters), and it will be another "vanilla" update, bumping down the date to 80 mya (to avoid anachronism). Another reason I felt compelled to tackle this one is because a lot of the designs from the original are, to be frank, pretty crappy, not just for being outdated but also for lacking quite a bit of the nuance the pterosaurs and sea reptiles in WWD had going for them, showing a regression in the attention to detail.

Anyway, let's address one of the strangest things in Sea Monsters, the cameo by Tyrannosaurus rex in the Niobrara segment. Now, the WW series is no stranger to anachronism and T. rex showing up 75 mya (upper Campanian) is hardly one of the more egregious ones, but the fossil record of tyrannosaurids (and dinosaurs in general) of Campanian-Maastrichtian Laramidia was already quite extensive in the late 90s-early 2000s, so we knew that most of these species didn't last more than a few million years, and that T. rex only showed up around 2 million years prior to the K-Pg extinction, while in the upper Campanian, different and smaller tyrannosaurids such as Gorgosaurus (Albertosaurus) libratus and Daspletosaurus torosus roamed the future stomping grounds of the tyrant king. We even had evidence of Dapletosaurus further south in New Mexico and potential evidence of Albertosaurus in Alabama, though these have since been reclassified as Bistahieversor and Appalachiosaurus respectively (the latter even being a non-tyrannosaurid tyrannosaur). They could have easily just recolored the T. rex model and called it Daspletosaurus or something, and it would have been serviceable, but they didn't for some reason (they did do that with the Albertosaurus in "Supercroc", which also takes place 75 mya). I have found a reference to an alleged giant tyrannosaurid lacrimal from the Judith River Formation, which was informally attributed to Tyrannosaurus by Dale Russel in 1983, and then again in 2006 , so perhaps that's why T. rex was included here, but that is pure speculation on my part (again, due to a lack of any confirmation in tie-in material).

Furthermore, both "Death of a Dynasty" and the behind-the-scenes special for WWD (correctly) acknowledged that T. rex only existed for the last 2 million years of the Cretaceous, so this is also a glaring continuity error in the WW universe itself. Since some of the animals in my roster (such as Pteranodon and Styxosaurus) predate most of the known Campanian tyrannosaurids in Laramidia, there was only really one option for a replacement; Lythronax argestes ("the gore king of the southwest"). Named in 2012, its fossils stem from the early Campanian Wahweap Formation of Utah (from strata dating to about 81-80 mya), making it a contemporary of the lower Pierre Shale fauna.

Though only known from a partial skull and fragmentary postcrania, it's still a significant find, as it's the oldest definitive tyrannosaurid known from Laramidia. Fossils of non-avian dinosaurs in this part of the world from the Coniacian-earliest Campanian (89-80 mya) are actually quite rare and often scrappy. We have some fossils from Niobrara, such as the duckbill Claosaurus and ankylosaur Niobrarasaurus, but besides a few other sites like the Wahweap, Menefee, and Milk River Formation, there isn't much to go on, though based on what we have, we know many of these animals were forerunners of the iconic fauna from the upper Campanian-Maastrichtian. At an estimated 6.8-8 meters in length, L. argestes was only, to quote Kenneth Branagh, the shape of things to come, but it was still more than capable of making a meal out of a Hesperornis, a Pteranodon, or a time-traveling wildlife host.

Another tidbit I realized is that, based on most maps of the Western Interior Seaway I've seen , is that at the time (80-75 mya), Kansas would have either been fully submerged or only its eastern side was dry land, and suffice to say, it doesn't make sense for any Laramidian tyrannosaurid to show up in Appalachia at the time, so maybe I'll change the location to Utah? As a nod to the Wahweap Formation?

Anatomical Reference: Scott Hartman, 2019

Description
Don't expect me to be updating all of Chased by Sea Monsters, as, one, I'm not very knowledgeable about the Paleozoic, and two, because this particular installment in the WW series, due to its distinct structure, would require reworkings beyond just the science, such as reshuffling the order of the "seven deadliest seas" and likley nixing some segments in favor of wholly new ones (you can't not make the Pisco Formation number one now, the discoveries of other large sea predators since 2003, Basilosaurus not being as formidable as shown in WW, the controversy regarding the size and shape Dunkleosteus, etc.), but I am more than willing to take a crack at updating the final segment of this mini-series, as it has quite a large and diverse cast of characters; 9 creatures if you count the cameos. Enough to be its own 30-minute episode. I'll just call it "Hell's Aquarium" (I guess the second deadliest sea in my vaguely defined idea for an updated Chased by Sea Monsters), and it will be another "vanilla" update, bumping down the date to 80 mya (to avoid anachronism). Another reason I felt compelled to tackle this one is because a lot of the designs from the original are, to be frank, pretty crappy, not just for being outdated but also for lacking quite a bit of the nuance the pterosaurs and sea reptiles in WWD had going for them, showing a regression in the attention to detail.

Anyway, let's address one of the strangest things in Sea Monsters, the cameo by Tyrannosaurus rex in the Niobrara segment. Now, the WW series is no stranger to anachronism and T. rex showing up 75 mya (upper Campanian) is hardly one of the more egregious ones, but the fossil record of tyrannosaurids (and dinosaurs in general) of Campanian-Maastrichtian Laramidia was already quite extensive in the late 90s-early 2000s, so we knew that most of these species didn't last more than a few million years, and that T. rex only showed up around 2 million years prior to the K-Pg extinction, while in the upper Campanian, different and smaller tyrannosaurids such as Gorgosaurus (Albertosaurus) libratus and Daspletosaurus torosus roamed the future stomping grounds of the tyrant king. We even had evidence of Dapletosaurus further south in New Mexico and potential evidence of Albertosaurus in Alabama, though these have since been reclassified as Bistahieversor and Appalachiosaurus respectively (the latter even being a non-tyrannosaurid tyrannosaur). They could have easily just recolored the T. rex model and called it Daspletosaurus or something, and it would have been serviceable, but they didn't for some reason (they did do that with the Albertosaurus in "Supercroc", which also takes place 75 mya). I have found a reference to an alleged giant tyrannosaurid lacrimal from the Judith River Formation, which was informally attributed to Tyrannosaurus by Dale Russel in 1983, and then again in 2006 , so perhaps that's why T. rex was included here, but that is pure speculation on my part (again, due to a lack of any confirmation in tie-in material).

Furthermore, both "Death of a Dynasty" and the behind-the-scenes special for WWD (correctly) acknowledged that T. rex only existed for the last 2 million years of the Cretaceous, so this is also a glaring continuity error in the WW universe itself. Since some of the animals in my roster (such as Pteranodon and Styxosaurus) predate most of the known Campanian tyrannosaurids in Laramidia, there was only really one option for a replacement; Lythronax argestes ("the gore king of the southwest"). Named in 2012, its fossils stem from the early Campanian Wahweap Formation of Utah (from strata dating to about 81-80 mya), making it a contemporary of the lower Pierre Shale fauna.

Though only known from a partial skull and fragmentary postcrania, it's still a significant find, as it's the oldest definitive tyrannosaurid known from Laramidia. Fossils of non-avian dinosaurs in this part of the world from the Coniacian-earliest Campanian (89-80 mya) are actually quite rare and often scrappy. We have some fossils from Niobrara, such as the duckbill Claosaurus and ankylosaur Niobrarasaurus, but besides a few other sites like the Wahweap, Menefee, and Milk River Formation, there isn't much to go on, though based on what we have, we know many of these animals were forerunners of the iconic fauna from the upper Campanian-Maastrichtian. At an estimated 6.8-8 meters in length, L. argestes was only, to quote Kenneth Branagh, the shape of things to come, but it was still more than capable of making a meal out of a Hesperornis, a Pteranodon, or a time-traveling wildlife host.

Another tidbit I realized is that, based on most maps of the Western Interior Seaway I've seen , is that at the time (80-75 mya), Kansas would have either been fully submerged or only its eastern side was dry land, and suffice to say, it doesn't make sense for any Laramidian tyrannosaurid to show up in Appalachia at the time, so maybe I'll change the location to Utah? As a nod to the Wahweap Formation?

Anatomical Reference: Scott Hartman, 2019