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Information about Plioplatecarpinae

Plioplatecarpines
Fossil range: Late Cretaceous
Enlarge picture
Forelimb of Platecarpus tympaniticus.

Forelimb of Platecarpus tympaniticus.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Sauropsida
Order:Squamata
Family:Mosasauridae
Subfamily:Plioplatecarpinae
Dollo, 1884; Williston, 1897
Genera
See text.


Plioplatecarpinae is a subfamily of mosasaurs, a diverse group of late Cretaceous marine squamates.

Russell (1967, pp. 148) defined the Plioplatecarpinae as follows: Small rostrum present or absent anterior to premaxillary teeth. Cranial nerves X, XI, XII leave lateral wall of opisthotic through single foramen. Canal or deep groove in floor of basioccipital and basispehnoid for basilar artery. Suprastapedial process of quadrate large, bluntly terminated and with parallel sides. Dorsal edge of surangular rounded and longitudinally horizontal...Twenty-nine or less presacral vertebrae present. Length of presacral series less than that of postsacral, neural spines of posterior caudal vertebrae at most only slightly elongated, do not form an appreciable fin. Haemal arches usually unfused to caudal centra. Appendicular elements lack smoothly finished articular surfaces."

Enlarge picture
Anterolateral view of Platecarpus tympaniticus skull at Yale University, Peabody Museum.


Genera referrable to the Plioplatecarpinae (informally and collectively known as "plioplatecarpines") have been found on all continents, though the occurrences in Australia remain questionable. The etymology of the subfamily is derived from one of its members, Plioplatecarpus: Greek pleion = "more" + Greek plate = "oar" + Greek karpos = "wrist, carpus"). In general, plioplatecarpines were short-skulled, short-bodied forms and were among the strongest swimming mosasaurs. Some workers have likened them to pinnipeds in their agility. Most forms were likely piscivores ("fish eaters"), though cephalopods (belemnites) evidently formed an important part of the plioplatecarpine diet. Larger forms may have also fed upon smaller marine reptiles. At least one genus evolved sturdy crushing teeth adapted to feeding on shellfish. The plioplatecarpines were medium-sized mosasaursm ranging from 12-25 feet ion length. Russell (1967) included two tribes, the Plioplatecarpini and Prognathodontini, the latter of which has been reassigned by Bell (1997) to the Mosasaurinae.

Polcyn and Bell (2005, p. 322) have erected a more inclusive clade, the parafamily Russellosaurina, which includes the "subfamilies Tylosaurinae and Plioplatecarpini and their sister-clade containing the genera Tethysaurus, Russellosaurus, and Yaguarasaurus."

The first plioplatecarpines appear in the Turonian and are among the oldest of mosasaurs, and the clade persists throughout the Maastrichtian, a period of approximately 24 million years.

Species and Taxonomy

Enlarge picture
Plioplatecarpus
  • Plioplatecarpinae
  • Plioplatecarpini
  • Platecarpus (paraphyletic)
  • P. tympaniticus (=P. coryphaeus, P. ictericus; Kiernan 2002)
  • P. planifrons
  • P. bocagei (=Angolasaurus; Lingham-Solair 1994)
  • Ectenosaurus
  • E. clidastoides
  • Selmasaurus
  • S. russelli
  • Igdamanosaurus
  • I. aegyptiacus
  • Yaguarasaurus
  • Y. colombianus
  • Plioplatecarpus
  • P. primaevus
  • P. houzeaui
  • P. marshii
  • P. nichollsae[1]

References

1. ^ Cuthbertson, R.S., Mallon, J.C., Campione, N.E., and Holmes, R.B. (2007). "A new species of mosasaur (Squamata: Mosasauridae) from the Pierre Shale (lower Campanian) of Manitoba." Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 44: 593-606.
  • Dollo, L. 1884. Le mosasaure. Revue des Questions Scientifiques XVI:648-653.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Lingham-Soliar, T. 1994. The mosasaur "Angolasaurus" bocagei (Reptilia: Mosasauridae) from the Turonian of Angola re-interpreted as the earliest member of the genus Platecarpus. Palaeont. Z. 68:1/2:267-282.
  • Polcyn, M. J. et Bell, G. L., Jr. 2005. Russellosaurus coheni n. gen., n. sp., a 92 million-year-old mosasaur from Texas (USA), and the definition of the parafamily Russellosaurina. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 84(3): 321-333.
  • 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.
Late Cretaceous (100mya - 65mya) refers to the second half of the Cretaceous Period, named after the famous white chalk cliffs of southern England, which date from this time. Rocks deposited during the Late Cretaceous Period are referred to as the Upper Cretaceous Series.
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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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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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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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In anatomy, a foramen is any opening.

Examples

Skull

See Foramina of skull

Other

  • the apical foramen is the hole at the tip of the root of a tooth.
  • the foramen ovale (heart) is a hole between the venous and arterial sides of the fetal heart.

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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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A haemal arch is a bony arch on the underside of a tail vertebra of a vertebrate. It may represent the ribs of that tail vertebra.

The hole so formed is the haemal canal.

It sometimes has a haemal spine on.
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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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This article is for the convenience store chain in Ireland.
For the bus company in London, see Centra (bus company)
As parts of vertebrae, it is plural of centrum.

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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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Etymology is the study of the history of words - when they entered a language, from what source, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.

In languages with a long written history, etymology makes use of philology, the study of how words change from culture to
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Greek}}} 
Writing system: Greek alphabet 
Official status
Official language of:  Greece
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Greek}}} 
Writing system: Greek alphabet 
Official status
Official language of:  Greece
 Cyprus
 European Union
recognised as minority language in parts of:
 European Union
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Regulated by:
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Greek}}} 
Writing system: Greek alphabet 
Official status
Official language of:  Greece
 Cyprus
 European Union
recognised as minority language in parts of:
 European Union
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Regulated by:
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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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Pinnipeds ("fin-feet", lit. "winged feet") are marine mammals belonging to the former biological suborder Pinnipedia (sometimes now a superfamily) of the order Carnivora. The pinnipeds now fall within the suborder Caniformia and comprise the families Odobenidae (walruses),
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Cephalopoda
Cuvier, 1797

Orders

Subclass Nautiloidea
  • †Plectronocerida
  • †Ellesmerocerida
  • †Actinocerida
  • †Pseudorthocerida
  • †Endocerida
  • †Tarphycerida
  • †Oncocerida

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Belemnoidea

Extinct Orders

Aulacocerida
Phragmoteuthida
Belemnitida
Diplobelida
Belemnoteuthina

Belemnites (or belemnoids) are an extinct group of marine cephalopod, very similar in many ways to the modern squid and closely related to the
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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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