[53], The skull of Mosasaurus is conical and tapers off to a short snout which extends a little beyond the frontmost teeth. [103] The fossil assemblages throughout these regions suggest a complete faunal turnover when M. missouriensis and M. conodon appeared at 79.5 Ma, indicating that the presence of Mosasaurus in the Western Interior Seaway had a profound impact on the restructuring of marine ecosystems. I cropped an image of the skull of Prognathodon, a macropredatory mosasaur confirmed to have reached 40' in length (I have recently been privy to . [7], In 1995, Lingham-Soliar studied the head musculature of M. hoffmannii. Mosasaurus also has large haemal arches located at the bottom of each caudal vertebra which bend near the middle of the tail, which contrasts with the reduction of haemal arches in other marine reptiles such as ichthyosaurs. [56][57] Street (2016) noted that large M. missouriensis individuals typically had skulls exceeding lengths of 1 meter (3.3ft). fossils is in the Hornerstown Formation, a deposit typically dated to be from the Paleocene Danian age, which was immediately after the Maastrichtian age. The latter rendered Mosasaurus paraphyletic (an unnatural grouping), but Bell (1997) nevertheless recognized Plotosaurus as a distinct genus. The region was shallow for a seaway, reaching a maximum depth of about 800900 meters (2,6003,000ft). As the proposal remains restricted to a PhD thesis, it is defined as an unpublished work per Article 8 of the ICZN and therefore is not yet formally valid. [50] The quadrate bone, which connected the lower jaw to the rest of the skull and formed the jaw joint, is tall and somewhat rectangular in shape, differing from the rounder quadrates found in typical mosasaurs. No injuries on the fossil show signs of healing, suggesting that the mosasaur was killed by its attacker by a fatal blow in the skull. [16][43], One of the earliest depictions of Mosasaurus in paleoart is a life-size concrete sculpture created by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins[44] between 1852 and 1854[45] as part of the collection of sculptures of prehistoric animals on display at the Crystal Palace Park in London. [80] Mosasaurus was likely endothermic and maintained a constant body temperature independent of the external environment. Second, the species was overshadowed by the more famous and history-rich type species. [109] Mosasaurus continued to be the dominant genus in the seaway until the end of the Navesinkan Age at the end of the Cretaceous. saturator. "[14] In a 1822 work by James Parkinson, William Daniel Conybeare coined the genus Mosasaurus from the Latin Mosa "Meuse" and the Ancient Greek (saros, "lizard"), all literally meaning "lizard of the Meuse", in reference to the river where the holotype specimen was discovered nearby. [50][61] Tylosaurus bernardi, the only surviving species of the genus during the Maastrichtian, measured up to 12.2 meters (40ft) in length[127] while the largest coexisting species of Prognathodon like P. saturator exceeded 12 meters (39ft). [75], The following cladogram on the left (Topology A) is modified from a maximum clade credibility tree inferred by a Bayesian analysis in the most recent major phylogenetic analysis of the Mosasaurinae subfamily by Madzia & Cau (2017), which was self-described as a refinement of a larger study by Simes et al. [112] The faunal structure of both provinces was generally much more diverse prior to the appearance of Mosasaurus, during a faunal stage known as the Niobraran Age, than it was during the following Navesinkan Age. The Deinosuchus and Purussaurus are now extinct and are ancestors of caiman and alligators. They belong to the order Squamata, which includes lizards and snakes . Spaces within the braincase for the occipital lobe and cerebral hemisphere are narrow and shallow, suggesting such brain parts were relatively small. [c][25], The type specimen of M. missouriensis was first described in 1834 by Richard Harlan based on a snout fragment found along the river's Big Bend. The bladed dentition of this 400-million-year-old extinct fish focused the bite force into a small area, the fang tip, at an . ", "A new halisaurine mosasaur (Squamata: Halisaurinae) from Japan: the first record in the western Pacific realm and the first documented insights into binocular vision in mosasaurs", "Mosasaur Predation on Upper Cretaceous Nautiloids and Ammonites from the United States Pacific Coast", 10.1669/0883-1351(2004)019<0096:MPOUCN>2.0.CO;2, "Mosasaur ascending: the phytogeny of bends", "Juvenile marine reptiles from the Late Cretaceous of the Antarctic peninsula and their relationships to other such occurrences in central South Dakota and Belgium", "Occurrence of Mosasaurus hoffmannii Mantell, 1829 (Squamata, Mosasauridae) in the Maastrichtian Phosphates of Morocco", "A cool temperate climate on the Antarctic Peninsula through the latest Cretaceous to early Paleogene", "Ray-finned fishes (Osteichthyes, Actinopterygii) from the type Maastrichtian, the Netherlands and Belgium", "A new species of longirostrine plioplatecarpine mosasaur (Squamata: Mosasauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Morocco, with a re-evaluation of the problematic taxon, 10.1671/0272-4634(2002)022[0091:sdahso]2.0.co;2, "An Overview of Late Cretaceous Vertebrates from Alabama", "A New Hypothesis of the Phylogenetic Relationships of the Tylosaurinae (Squamata: Mosasauroidea)", 10.1671/0272-4634(2003)23[89:tpanes]2.0.co;2, 10.1666/0022-3360(2005)079[0969:anpprs]2.0.co;2, "Vertebrate Paleontology of the Pierre Shale and Fox Hills Formations (Late Campanian-Late Maastrichtian) of Badlands National Park, South Dakota", "Extinction patterns, 18 O trends, and magnetostratigraphy from a southern high-latitude CretaceousPaleogene section: Links with Deccan volcanism", "A new elasmosaurid from the upper Maastrichtian Lpez de Bertodano Formation: new data on weddellonectian diversity", "Before and after the K/Pg extinction in West Antarctica: New marine fish records from Marambio (Seymour) Island", 10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0473:mrsmft]2.0.co;2, "GEOL 104 Lecture 38: The Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction III: Not With a Bang, But a Whimper", "Global climate change driven by soot at the K-Pg boundary as the cause of the mass extinction", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mosasaurus&oldid=1148298057, This page was last edited on 5 April 2023, at 08:57. [d][50] No explicit justification for the 1:10 ratio was provided in Russell (1967),[38] and it has been considered to be probably overestimated by Cleary et al. [j][5] Street & Caldwell (2017) was derived from Street's 2016 doctoral thesis, which contained a phylogenetic study proposing the constraining of Mosasaurus into four speciesM. His calculations interpreted "body length" as the length of the postcranial body, not the total length of the animal as demonstrated in Russell (1967), This erroneously inflated the estimate by 10%. [38] Based on this ratio, Grigoriev (2014) used the largest lower jaw attributed to M. hoffmannii (CCMGE 10/2469, also known as the Penza specimen; measuring 171 centimeters (67in) in length) to estimate a maximum length of 17.1 meters (56ft). Adding to its offensive line-up are a line of 40-50 teeth measuring some 25-30mm in length. [36], M. lemonnieri is a controversial taxon, and there is debate on whether it is a distinct species or not. [8] The early history of the genus as a taxon was subject to complications spurred by the infamous rivalry between American paleontologists Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh during the Bone Wars. Incorporating the species M. missouriensis, M. conodon, M. maximus, and an indeterminate specimen (UNSM 77040), some of his findings agreed with Russell (1967), such as Mosasaurus descending from an ancestral group containing Clidastes and M. conodon being the most basal of the genus. The earliest fossils of Mosasaurus known to science were found as skulls in a chalk quarry near the Dutch city of Maastricht in the late 18th century, which were initially thought to have been the bones of crocodiles or whales. (hover over or click on each skeletal component to identify the structure), Because nomenclatural rules were not well-defined at the time, 19th century scientists did not give Mosasaurus a proper diagnosis during its initial descriptions, which led to ambiguity in how the genus is defined. [7][13], In 1804, the Lewis and Clark Expedition discovered a now-lost fossil skeleton alongside the Missouri River, which was identified as a 45-foot (14m) long fish. [11][42][61][62] Mosasaurus teeth are large and robust except for those in M. conodon and M. lemonnieri, which instead have more slender teeth. Mosasaurus gave its name to a group of marine lizards - Mosasaurs. [61] Lingham-Soliar (1995) suggested that Mosasaurus had a rather "savage" feeding behavior as demonstrated by large tooth marks on scutes of the giant sea turtle Allopleuron hoffmanni and fossils of re-healed fractured jaws in M. [50] The texture of the bones is virtually identical with in modern whales, which indicates Mosasaurus possessed a high range of aquatic adaptation and neutral buoyancy as seen in cetaceans. (2014) estimated that M. missouriensis may have measured up to 89 meters (2630ft) in length. mokoroa, M. hobetsuensis, M. flemingi, and M. prismaticusto be possibly valid, pending a future formal reassessment. Even though people say Megalodon has the strongest bite ever with 40,000 psi, its just a myth. [49], The forelimbs of Mosasaurus are wide and robust. As such, it had a streamlined body, an elongated tail ending with a downturn supporting a two-lobed fin, and two pairs of flippers. Agnete Weinreich Carlsen considered it the simplest explanation that such conditions were a product of inadequate anatomical adaptation. [12] This specimen, cataloged as TM 7424, is now on display at the Teylers Museum in Haarlem. It likely preferred to hunt in open water near the surface. [9], The features of teeth in Mosasaurus vary across species, but unifying characteristics include a design specialized for cutting prey, highly prismatic surfaces (enamel circumference shaped by flat sides called prisms), and two opposite cutting edges. An examination of existing historical evidence by Pieters et al., (2012) suggested the most accurate date would be on or around 1780. [22] He coined the specific epithet and initially identified it as a species of Ichthyosaurus[28] but later as an amphibian. This formed through a combination of catastrophic seismic and geological disturbances, mega-hurricanes, and giant tsunamis caused by the impact of the Chicxulub asteroid that catalyzed the K-Pg extinction event. The powerful forces resulting from utilization of the paddles may have sometimes resulted in bone damage, as evidenced by a M. hoffmannii ilium with significant separation of the bone's head from the rest of the bone likely caused by frequent shearing forces at the articulation joint. The team then used computer models to reconstruct the dinosaur's jaw muscles and analyze bite performance. [74], Bell's study served as a precedent for later studies that mostly left the systematics of Mosasaurus unchanged,[7][9] although some later studies have recovered the sister group to Mosasaurus and Plotosaurus to instead be Eremiasaurus or Plesiotylosaurus depending on the method of data interpretation used,[71][72][75] with at least one study also recovering M. missouriensis to be the most basal species of the genus instead of M. What constitutes published work", "A new mosasaurine from the Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) phosphates of Morocco and its implications for mosasaurine systematics", "Inferring 'weak spots' in phylogenetic trees: application to mosasauroid nomenclature", "Reassessing Mosasaurini based on a systematic revision of, "Mosasauroid phylogeny under multiple phylogenetic methods provides new insights on the evolution of aquatic adaptations in the group", "Inertial feeding in reptiles: the role of skull mass reduction", "Microanatomical and Histological Features in the Long Bones of Mosasaurine Mosasaurs (Reptilia, Squamata) Implications for Aquatic Adaptation and Growth Rates", "Seasonal reproductive endothermy in tegu lizards", "Late Cretaceous winter sea ice in Antarctica? Lingham-Soliar described this pit as resembling a tooth mark from a possible attacking mosasaur. [f][40] The cutting edges of M. beaugei are neither serrated nor smooth, but instead possess minute wrinkles known as crenulations. The validity of some of these genera is disputed as they are primarily based on isolated teeth. [50][61] Fauna likely preyed upon by the genus include bony fish, sharks, cephalopods, birds, and marine reptiles such as other mosasaurs[61] and turtles. 241. He clarified that earlier interpretations of claws were erroneous and demonstrated how the phalanges show no indication of muscle or tendon attachment, which would make walking impossible. Mosasaurs with lower 13C values tended to occupy higher trophic levels, and one factor for this was dietary: a diet of prey rich in lipids such as sea turtles and other large marine reptiles can lower 13C values. Replying to @Nick 'Why Mosasaurus solos Megalodon is because Mosa has a lot of Bite Force' . [30] In 1854, Hermann Schlegel proved how Mosasaurus actually had fully aquatic flippers. This concept was revolutionary at the time and helped support the then-developing ideas of extinction. Just one search in the . "The science of the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, part 2: "The world's first dinosaur park: what the Victorians got right and wrong", "Convergent Evolution in Aquatic Tetrapods: Insights from an Exceptional Fossil Mosasaur". and that their bite force didnt matter but the 'venom' they inflicted did.I havent seen any paper on mosasaurs having venom. [83] It may have also been a factor that allowed Mosasaurus to thrive in the colder climates of locations such as Antarctica. The restoration was primarily informed by Richard Owen's interpretation of the M. hoffmannii holotype and the anatomy of monitor lizards, so Hawkins depicted the animal as essentially a water-going monitor lizard. This bite force pressure is usually measured with a compression gauge of some kind, which gets inserted into the creature's mouth for them to bite down on. [38][55] He also measured the dimensions of IRSNB 3119 and recorded that the skull constituted approximately one-eleventh of the whole body. Changing temperatures and an abundance in marine life were characteristic of these localities. [102] Many types of sharks such as Squalicorax, Cretalamna, Serratolamna, and sand sharks,[105] as well as bony fish such as Cimolichthys, the saber-toothed herring Enchodus, and the swordfish-like Protosphyraena are represented in the northern Tethyan margin. [89], There is fossil evidence that Mosasaurus engaged in aggressive and lethal combat with others of its kind. A redescription of the type specimen in 2017 helped resolve the taxonomy issue and confirmed at least five species to be within the genus. [49][79] Its elongated paddle-like limbs functioned as hydrofoils for maneuvering the animal. There are some other species of mosasaur that specialised in eating this kind of prey so they had stronger bites than Mosasaurus who was a generalist predator so it would take anything that fit into its mouth, not unlike tiger sharks today. The battle of Mosasaurus vs Megalodon will likely come down to which creature can deliver the more potent bite. The cutting edges in M. hoffmannii and M. missouriensis are finely serrated,[5][10] while in M. conodon and M. lemonnieri serrations do not exist. [24] In 1818, a fossil from Monmouth County, New Jersey became the first North American specimen to be correctly recognized as a Mosasaurus by scientists of the time. This creates a rigid three-pivot geometric cranial structure. [88], Carbon isotope studies on fossils of multiple M. hoffmannii individuals have found extremely low values of 13C, the lowest in all mosasaurs for the largest individuals. At least two species of Mosasaurus have been described, but the true number of species is unknown as remains are often fragmentary and specimens are described in open nomenclature. In many mosasaurs like Prognathodon and M. lemonnieri, this function mainly served to allow ratchet feeding, in which the pterygoid and jaws would "walk" captured prey into the mouth like a conveyor belt. [36] The premaxillary bar,[e] the long portion of the premaxillary bone extending behind the premaxillary teeth, is narrow and constricts near the middle in M. hoffmannii[50] and M. lemonnieri[36] like in typical mosasaurs. [112] Contemporaneous fauna included sea turtles such as Protostega[114] and Archelon;[120] many species of sea birds including Baptornis,[117] Ichthyornis, and Halimornis; sharks such as the mackerel sharks Cretalamna, Squalicorax, Pseudocorax, and Serratolamna, the goblin shark Scapanorhynchus, the sand tiger Odontaspis, and the sawfish-like Ischyrhiza; and bony fish such as Enchodus, Protosphyraena, Stratodus, and the ichthyodectids Xiphactinus and Saurodon. Mosasaurs (from Latin Mosa meaning the ' Meuse ', and Greek sauros meaning 'lizard') comprise a group of extinct, large marine reptiles from the Late Cretaceous. They are also broad, flat, and form a paddle. [50], Paleontologists generally agree that Mosasaurus was likely an active predator of a variety of marine animals. In addition, they exclusively feature M. conodon, Halisaurus platyspondylus and Prognathodon rapax. Nevertheless, fossils of other mosasaurs with invariable avascular necrosis still exhibit substantial adaptations like eardrums that were well-protected from rapid changes in pressure. hoffmannii. Theagarten Lingham-Soliar suggested two reasons for this neglect. "The only plausible attacker with sufficient bite force to penetrate the cortical bone to such an extent is another mosasaur," Bastiaans and his team concluded, identifying the wound as a "tooth strike lesion." The infection ended up being worse than the bite. [77] However, the study used a method unorthodox to traditional phylogenetic studies on mosasaur species because its focus was on the relationships of entire squamate groups rather than mosasaur classification. [47][48][49], The type species, M. hoffmannii, is one of the largest marine reptiles known,[50][46] though knowledge of its skeleton remains incomplete as it is mainly known from skulls. There were still conflicts among them, as an instance of Tylosaurus attacking a Mosasaurus has been documented. The dinosaur had a maximum bite force of some 3.1 metric tons, "greater than for a living white shark, but puny compared to 'Big Tooth,'" Wroe said. Cmon! Watch out for its bite, as it has a force of 275,000 kPa (40,000 psi). [102] Mosasaurus was not well-represented: the distribution of M. beaugei was restricted to Morocco and Brazil and isolated teeth from Syria suggested a possible presence of M. lemonnieri, although M. hoffmannii also had some presence throughout the province. Why are there still bozos thinking Mosa has a stronger f**king bite force than Megalodon?! This, along with signs of healing, indicates that the fractures were not imminently fatal. In each jaw row, from front to back, Mosasaurus had: two premaxillary teeth, twelve to sixteen maxillary teeth, and eight to sixteen pterygoid teeth on the upper jaw and fourteen to seventeen dentary teeth on the lower jaw. [92] However, the attacking mosasaurs of the M. conodon and M. missouriensis specimens were likely similar in size to the victims. [74] He proposed that Mosasaurus evolved from a Clidastes-like mosasaur, and diverged into two lineages, one giving rise to M. conodon and another siring a chronospecies sequence which contained in order of succession M. ivoensis, M. missouriensis, and M. [7][36] Compared to other mosasaurs, the rib cage of Mosasaurus is unusually deep and forms an almost perfect semicircle, giving it a barrel-shaped chest. [9], Interactive skeletal reconstruction of M. hoffmannii Cuvier did not designate a scientific name for the new animal, and this was done by William Daniel Conybeare in 1822 when he named it Mosasaurus in reference to its origin in fossil deposits near the Meuse River. Dollo names the species in his honor. The scientists utilized an interpretation that differences in isotope values can help explain the level of resource partitioning because it is influenced by multiple environmental factors such as lifestyle, diet, and habitat preference. 1 mo. These environments were dominated by mosasaurs and marine side-necked turtles. [99][97] Some areas in Europe and South Dakota have yielded concentrated assemblages of juvenile M. hoffmannii, M. missouriensis and/or M. lemonnieri. Previous studies demonstrated that ratios of these three elements can act as a proxy for relative ocean depth of a fossil during early diagenesis without interference from biological processes, with each of the three elements signifying either shallow, deep, or fresh waters. On the upper jaw, there were three types: the premaxillary teeth, maxillary teeth, and pterygoid teeth. [50], The tissue structure of Mosasaurus' bones suggests it had a metabolic rate much higher than modern squamates and its resting metabolic rate was between that of the leatherback sea turtle and that of ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs. [53] Polcyn et al. What do you think? Because soft tissue like muscles do not easily fossilize, reconstruction of the musculature was largely based on the structure of the skull, muscle scarring on the skull, and the musculature in extant monitor lizards. Like most advanced mosasaurs, the tail bends slightly downwards as it approached the center, but this bend is offset from the dorsal plane at a small degree. [102], Many of the earliest fossils of Mosasaurus were found in Campanian stage deposits in North America, including the Western Interior Seaway, an inland sea which once flowed through what is now the central United States and Canada, and connected the Arctic Ocean to the modern-day Gulf of Mexico. Mosasaurus ( / mozsrs /; "lizard of the Meuse River ") is the type genus (defining example) of the mosasaurs, an extinct group of aquatic squamate reptiles. [50], Like all mosasaurs, the lower jaws of Mosasaurus could swing forward and backward. Other marine reptiles such as the marine monitor lizard Pachyvaranus and the sea snake Palaeophis are known there. It was given a boxy head, nostrils at the side of the skull, large volumes of soft tissue around the eyes, lips reminiscent of monitor lizards, scales consistent with those in large monitors like the Komodo dragon, and a flipper. ago. [50], In modern lizards, the mechanical build of the skull is characterized by a four-pivot geometric structure in the cranium that allows flexible movement of the jaws, possibly to allow the animals to better position them and prevent prey escape when hunting. Of other mosasaurs with invariable avascular necrosis still exhibit substantial adaptations like that. And backward explanation that such conditions were a product of inadequate anatomical.. Offensive line-up are a line of 40-50 teeth measuring some 25-30mm in length sea snake are... Offensive line-up are a line of 40-50 teeth measuring some 25-30mm in length is! Form a paddle the validity of some of these localities is fossil evidence that Mosasaurus engaged aggressive! 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