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Information about Mosasaurinae

Mosasaurinae
Enlarge picture
Prognathodon

Conservation status
Extinct (fossil)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Sauropsida
Order:Squamata
Family:Mosasauridae
Subfamily:Mosasaurinae
Mosasaurinae (Gervais, 1853; Williston, 1897) is a subfamily of mosasaurs, a diverse group of Late Cretaceous marine squamates.

Russell (1967, pp. 123–124) defined the Mosasurinae as differing from all other mosasaurs as follows: "Small rostrum present or absent anterior to premaxillary teeth. Fourteen or more teeth present in dentary and maxilla. Cranial nerves X, XI, and XII leave lateral wall of opisthotic through two foramina. No canal or groove in floor of basioccipital or basisphenoid for basilar artery. Suprastapedial process of quadrate distally expanded. Dorsal edge of surangular thin lamina of bone rising anteriorly to posterior surface of coronoid...At least 31, usually 42–45 presacral vertebrae present. Length of presacral series exceeds that of postsacral, neural spines of posterior caudal vertebrae elongated to form distinct fin. Appendicular elements with smoothly finished articular surfaces, tarsus and carpus well ossified." In his 1997 revision of the phylogeny of the Mosasauroidea, Bell (pp. 293–332) retained the Mosasaurinae as a clade, though he reassigned Russell's tribe Prognathodontini to the Mosasaurinae and recognized a new tribe of mosasaurines, the Globidensini.

Enlarge picture
Clidastes liodontus pursuing a toxocheylid turtle
Genera referrable to the Mosasaurinae ("mosasaurines") have been found on all continents except Australia and South America. The lineage first appears in the Turonian and thrived until the mass extinction event at the end of the Maastrichtian. They ranged in size from one of the smallest known mosasaurs (Carinodens, 3–3.5 meters), to medium-sized taxa (Clidastes, 6+ meters), to the largest of the mosasaurs (Mosasaurus hoffamanni) reaching lengths in excess of 18 meters (60 feet). Many genera of mosasaurines were either piscivorous or generalists, preying on fish and other marine reptiles, but one lineage, the Globidensini evolved specialized crushing teeth, adapting to a diet of ammonites and/or marine turtles.

Species and Taxonomy

  • Subfamily Mosasaurinae
  • Mosasaurini (Russell, 1967)
  • Clidastes (paraphyletic)
  • C. liodontus
  • C. "moorevilensis" (nomen nudum'')
  • C. propython
  • Mosasaurus (paraphyletic)
  • M. hoffmanni (=M. maximus)
  • M. conodon
  • M. dekayi
  • M. missouriensis
  • M. mokoroa
  • Moanasaurus
  • M. mangahouangae
  • Amphekepubis
  • A. johnsoni
  • Liodon (polyphyletic)
  • L. anceps
  • L. sectorius
  • L. mosasauroides
  • Plotosaurini (Russell, 1967)
  • Plotosaurus
  • P. tuckeri
  • P. bennisoni
  • Globidensini (Bell, 1997)
  • Globidens
  • G. alabamaensis
  • G. dakotensis
  • Prognathodon
  • P. overtoni
  • P. giganteus
  • P. rapax
  • P. waiparaensis
  • P. stadtmani
  • P. solvayi
  • Plesiotylosaurus
  • P. crassidens
  • Mosasaurinae incertae sedis
  • Carinodens
  • C. belgicus
  • Goronyosaurus
  • G. nigeriensis
  • Pluridens
  • P. walkeri

References

  • Bell, G. L. Jr., 1997. A phylogenetic revision of North American and Adriatic Mosasauroidea. pp. 293–332 In Callaway J. M. and E. L Nicholls, (eds.), Ancient Marine Reptiles, Academic Press, 501 pp.
  • Gervais, P. 1853. Observations relatives aux reptiles fossiles de France. Acad. Sci. Paris Compt. Rendus 36:374–377, 470–474.
  • Kiernan, C. R., 2002. Stratigraphic distribution and habitat segregation of mosasaurs in the Upper Cretaceous of western and central Alabama, with an historical review of Alabama mosasaur discoveries. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(1):91–103.
  • Russell, D. A., 1967. Systematics and morphology of American mosasaurs. Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, Bulletin 23.
  • Williston, S. W. 1897. Range and distribution of the mosasaurs with remarks on synonymy. Kansas University Quarterly 4(4):177–185.
Prognathodon

Species
  • P. overtoni
  • P. giganteus
  • P. rapax
  • P. waiparaensis
  • P. stadtmani
  • P. solvayi
  • ?P.

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conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing the conservation status of a species: not simply the number remaining, but the
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For other uses of the term, see Fossil (disambiguation)


FOSSIL is a standard for allowing serial communication for telecommunications programs under the DOS operating system.
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Sauropsida*
Goodrich, 1916

Subclasses
  • Anapsida
  • Diapsida
Synonyms
  • Reptilia Laurenti, 1768
Reptiles are tetrapods and amniotes, animals whose embryos are surrounded by an amniotic membrane, and members of the class
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Squamata
Oppel, 1811

black: range of Squamata


Suborders
see text

This article is about the Squamata order of reptiles. For the Roman scale armour see: Lorica squamata.

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Mosasauridae
Gervais, 1853

Subfamilies

Halisaurinae
Mosasaurinae
Plioplatecarpinae
Tylosaurinae

Mosasaurs (from Latin Mosa meaning the 'Meuse river' in the Netherlands, and Greek sauros
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1820s  1830s  1840s  - 1850s -  1860s  1870s  1880s
1850 1851 1852 - 1853 - 1854 1855 1856

:
Subjects:     Archaeology - Architecture -
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1860s  1870s  1880s  - 1890s -  1900s  1910s  1920s
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Subjects:     Archaeology - Architecture -
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family (Latin: familia, plural familiae) is a rank, or a taxon in that rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Code which applies.
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Mosasauridae
Gervais, 1853

Subfamilies

Halisaurinae
Mosasaurinae
Plioplatecarpinae
Tylosaurinae

Mosasaurs (from Latin Mosa meaning the 'Meuse river' in the Netherlands, and Greek sauros
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The Cretaceous Period is one of the major divisions of the geologic timescale, reaching from the end of the Jurassic Period (i.e. from 145.5 ± 4.0 million years ago (Ma)) to the beginning of the Paleocene epoch of the Tertiary Period (about 65.5 ± 0.3 Ma).
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Squamata
Oppel, 1811

black: range of Squamata


Suborders
see text

This article is about the Squamata order of reptiles. For the Roman scale armour see: Lorica squamata.

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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1930s  1940s  1950s  - 1960s -  1970s  1980s  1990s
1964 1965 1966 - 1967 - 1968 1969 1970

Year 1967 (MCMLXVII
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Rostrum can mean one of several different things:
  • Rostrum (anatomy), an anatomical structure resembling a bird's beak, such as the snout of crocodiles and dolphins or the part of the carapace of a crustacean.

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The premaxilla is a pair of small cranial bones at the very tip of the jaws of many animals, usually bearing teeth, but not always. They are connected to the maxilla and the nasals.
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mandible (from Latin mandibūla, "jawbone") or inferior maxillary bone is, together with the maxilla, the largest and strongest bone of the face . It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place.
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The maxilla (plural: maxillae) is a fusion of two bones along the palatal fissure that form the upper jaw. This is similar to the mandible, which is also a fusion of two halves at the mental symphysis.
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Quadrate may refer to:
  • Quadrate bone
  • Quadrate (heraldry)

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The Vertebral Column (singular: vertebra) are the individual irregular bones that make up the spinal column (aka ischis) — a flexuous and flexible column.
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In sciences dealing with the anatomy of animals, precise anatomical terms of location are necessary for a variety of reasons. Non-scientists often wonder why zoological and human anatomists use complex terminology to describe locations on a body, when common terms like "up",
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Tarsus (from the Greek ταρσός, for "flat basket") may refer to:
  • Tarsus (skeleton), the skeletal region between the tibia and fibula and the metatarsus
  • Tarsus (eyelids)
  • The final segment of an arthropod leg

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carpus is the cluster of bones in the hand between the radius and ulna and the metacarpus. The bones of the carpus do not belong to individual fingers, whereas those of the metacarpus do. The joint between the radius and ulna and the carpus is called the wrist.
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phylogenetics (Greek: phyle = tribe, race and genetikos = relative to birth, from genesis = birth) is the study of evolutionary relatedness among various groups of organisms (e.g., species, populations).
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This article has been tagged since July 2007.
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genus (plural: genera) is part of the Latinized name for an organism. It is a name which reflects the classification of the organism by grouping it with other closely similar organisms.
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The Turonian is a stage of the Late Cretaceous Epoch. It spans the time between 93.5 ± 0.8 Ma and 89.3 ± 1 Ma (million years ago).

The Turonien was definied by the French paleontologist Alcide d'Orbigny (1802 - 1857), who named it after the city of Tours in the French
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The Maastrichtian is the last stage of the Cretaceous period, and therefore of the Mesozoic era. It spanned from 70.6 ± 0.6 Ma to 65.5 ± 0.3 Ma (million years ago).
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