[102] Multiple oceanic climate zones encompassed the seaways, including tropical, subtropical, temperate, and subpolar climates. [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. Laelaps . [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. The Mosasaurus is also thought to have had short arms with . Mosasaurus fossils have been found in places as diverse as North and South America, Europe, Africa, Western Asia, and Antarctica. mokoroa, M. hobetsuensis, M. flemingi, and M. prismaticusto be possibly valid, pending a future formal reassessment. [q] Two of these cases displayed irregular surface deformities around the fusion site caused by drainage of the vertebral sinuses, which is indicative of a bone infection. In terms of offensive powers, the mosasaurus and the liopleurodon are closely matched. Another trait that came from Tyrannosaurus being in its gene pool was the massively strong bite force it had, . Many of the fossils with injuries possibly attributable to intraspecific combat are of juvenile or sub-adult Mosasaurus, leading to the possibility that attacks on smaller, weaker individuals may have been more common. 189K views 1 year ago #Mosasaurus #Megalodon #VS If these ancient aquatic animals fought today, who would win? [58][90] In 2006, Schulp and colleagues speculated that Mosasaurus may have occasionally engaged in cannibalism as a result of intraspecific aggression. [40], The fifth species M. beaugei was described by Camille Arambourg in 1952 from isolated teeth originating from phosphate deposits in the Oulad Abdoun Basin and the Ganntour Basin in Morocco. [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. (2014) estimated that M. missouriensis may have measured up to 89 meters (2630ft) in length. [7][9] Third, there was still a lack of comparative studies of the skeletal anatomy of large mosasaurines at the time. The overall structure of the paddle is compressed, similar to in Plotosaurus, and was well-suited for faster swimming. [89], There is fossil evidence that Mosasaurus engaged in aggressive and lethal combat with others of its kind. This is one indication of niche partitioning, where the two mosasaur genera likely foraged in different habitats or had different specific diets to coexist without direct competitive conflict. In M. hoffmannii, the top margin of the dentary is slightly curved upwards;[5] this is also the case with the largest specimens of M. lemonnieri, although more typical skulls of the species have a near-perfectly straight jawline. [51] In 2014, Federico Fanti and colleagues alternatively argued that the total length of M. hoffmannii was more likely closer to seven times the length of the skull, which was based on a near-complete skeleton of the related species Prognathodon overtoni. Contrary to Russell (1967),[38] Bell also recovered Mosasaurus in a sister relationship with another group which included Globidens and Prognathodon, and M. maximus as a sister species to Plotosaurus. On the upper jaw, there were three types: the premaxillary teeth, maxillary teeth, and pterygoid teeth. The model was deliberately sculpted incomplete, which Mark Witton believed was likely to save time and money. [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. hoffmannii. . A third hypothesis proposes that the layer is a lag deposit of Cretaceous sediments forced out by a strong impact by a tsunami, and what remained was subsequently refilled with Cenozoic fossils. [13][20] In 1829, Gideon Mantell added the specific epithet hoffmannii, in honor to Hoffmann. Mosasaurus gave its name to a group of marine lizards - Mosasaurs. Identifying the animal that left bite marks in the fossilized, coiled shells of sea creatures called ammonoids kept paleontologists busy for decades. [85] Other Antarctic marine reptiles included elasmosaurid plesiosaurs like Aristonectes and another indeterminate elasmosaurid. [13] Later around 1780,[a] the quarry produced a second skull that caught the attention of the physician Johann Leonard Hoffmann, who thought it was a crocodile. [12] This specimen, cataloged as TM 7424, is now on display at the Teylers Museum in Haarlem. [83][84][85][86], Mosasaurus had relatively large eye sockets[50] with large sclerotic rings occupying much of the sockets' diameter;[36] the latter is correlated with eye size and suggests it had good vision. 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. They do not exhibit the bone mass increase found in juvenile primitive mosasauroids to support buoyancy associated with a lifestyle in shallow water, implying that Mosasaurus was precocial: they were already efficient swimmers and lived fully functional lifestyles in open water at a very young age, and did not require nursery areas to raise their young. In addition, they exclusively feature M. conodon, Halisaurus platyspondylus and Prognathodon rapax. [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. The location of the infection may have also interfered with breathing. [50], Paleontologists generally agree that Mosasaurus was likely an active predator of a variety of marine animals. The mosasaur is disadvantaged in almost every aspect. The fossils were found in association with fossils of Squalicorax, Enchodus, and various ammonites within a uniquely fossil-rich bed at the base of the Hornerstown Formation known as the Main Fossiliferous Layer. saturator. Many elements of the sculpture can be considered inaccurate, even for the time. [14][18], After its seizure, the second skull was sent to the National Museum of Natural History, France in 1795 and later cataloged as MNHN AC 9648. This is shown from a fossil skull of a subadult M. hoffmannii with fractures caused by a massive concentrated blow to the braincase; Lingham-Soliar (1998) argued that this blow was dealt by a ramming attack by Tylosaurus bernardi, as the formation of the fractures were characteristic of a coordinated strike (and not an accident or fossilization damage), and T. bernardi was the only known coexisting animal likely capable of causing such damage, using its robust arrow-like elongated snout. ive heard that they do then ive heard that their jaws are to small for a bite force greater than the tyrant king. [88][126] Lingham-Soliar (1995) elaborated on this, finding that Maastrichtian deposits in the Netherlands with M. hoffmannii occurrences represented nearshore waters around 4050 meters (130160ft) deep. Mosasaurus is a genus of large aquatic carnivorous lizard from the Late Cretaceous about 70-66 million years ago. Dollo names the species in his honor. hoffmannii had two to three prisms on the labial side (the side facing outwards) and no prisms on the lingual side (the side facing the tongue), M. missouriensis had four to six labial prisms and eight lingual prisms, M. lemonnieri had eight to ten labial prisms, and M. beaugei had three to five labial prisms and eight to nine lingual prisms. Paleontologists have done some sort of biomechanical modeling based on teeth we've found, and they calculated the bite force would be about 40,000 pounds per square inch, which is by far the highest bite force ever calculated for any animal, living or extinct. For example, the braincase of the mosasaur Plioplatecarpus marshi provided for a brain around twice the size of that in M. hoffmannii despite being only half the length of the latter. The long, narrow, and heavy nature of the lower jaws and attachment of tendons at the coronoid process would have allowed quick opening and closing of the mouth with little energy input underwater, which also contributed to the powerful bite force of M. hoffmannii and suggests it would not have needed the strong magnus depressor muscles (jaw-opening muscles) seen in some plesiosaurs. [38][55] He also measured the dimensions of IRSNB 3119 and recorded that the skull constituted approximately one-eleventh of the whole body. Its tail was long and ended in a downward bend and a paddle-like fluke. MEGALODON VS MOSASAURUS - Who Would Win? Comparisons between the 13C levels in multiple teeth of M. hoffmannii and P. saturator from the Maastrichtian-age Maastricht Formation showed that while there was some convergence between certain specimens, the average 13C values between the two species were on average different. Mosasaurus was a predator possessing excellent vision to compensate for its poor sense of smell, and a high metabolic rate suggesting it was endothermic ("warm-blooded"), an adaptation only found in mosasaurs among squamates. [50], Mosasaurus swam using its tail. These cranial structures are united by strong interlocking sutures formed to resist compression and shear forces caused by a downward thrust of the lower jaw muscles or an upward thrust of prey. 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. Two examples include IRSNB R25 and IRSNB R27, both having fractures and other pathologies in their dentaries. The 2015 Indominus roaring at the T. rex and Blue seconds before she is pulled to her death by a Mosasaurus. [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. Mosasaurus fossils have been found less than 15 meters (49ft) below the boundary in the Maastricht Formation, the Davutlar Formation in Turkey, the Jagel Formation in Argentina, Stevns Klint in Denmark, Seymour Island, and Missouri. 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? [22], The third species was described in 1881 from fragmentary fossils in New Jersey by Edward Drinker Cope, who thought it was a giant species of Clidastes and named it Clidastes conodon. [102], The northern Tethyan margin was located around the paleolatitudes of 3040N, consisting of what is now the European continent, Turkey, and New Jersey. conodon. [h][66], One of the most complete Mosasaurus skeletons in terms of vertebral representation (Mosasaurus sp. Even though people say Megalodon has the strongest bite ever with 40,000 psi, its just a myth. Although there is no direct evidence specific to the genus, studies on the biochemistry of related mosasaur genera such as Clidastes[p] suggests that endothermy was likely present in all mosasaurs. (Squamata, Mosasauridae) from the Maastrichtian of Angola, and the affinities of the mosasaur genus Liodon - Proceedings of the Second Mosasaur Meeting . M. hoffmannii and Prognathodon sectorius were the dominant species in the northern province. [22] He coined the specific epithet and initially identified it as a species of Ichthyosaurus[28] but later as an amphibian. [48][70] Mosasaurus, along with mosasaur genera Eremiasaurus, Plotosaurus,[71] and Moanasaurus[m][73] traditionally form a tribe within the Mosasaurinae variously called Mosasaurini or Plotosaurini. The team then used computer models to reconstruct the dinosaur's jaw muscles and analyze bite performance. [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. [112][114] During the Navesinkan Age, Mosasaurus dominated the whole region, accounting for around two-thirds of all mosasaur diversity with Plioplatecarpus and Prognathodon sharing the remaining third. has also been described. [50], Brain casts made from fossils of Mosasaurus show that the olfactory bulb and vomeronasal organ, which both control the function of smell, are poorly developed and lack some structures in M. hoffmannii; this indicates the species had a poor sense of smell. [50] It is unlikely Mosasaurus was a scavenger as it had a poor sense of smell. [129], One enigmatic occurrence of Mosasaurus sp. He contacted the prominent biologist Petrus Camper, and the skull gained international attention after Camper published a study identifying it as a whale. Mosasaurus means 'Meuse lizard', referring to the river near which it was first found. [54], M. missouriensis and M. lemonnieri are smaller than M. hoffmannii but are known from more complete fossils. The battle of Mosasaurus vs Megalodon will likely come down to which creature can deliver the more potent bite. [30] The same year, Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer suspected that the skull and Harlan's snout were part of the same individual. How much bite force does a hyena have? This enabled these monster sharks to munch . [97][98] Microanatomical studies on bones of juvenile Mosasaurus and related genera have found that their bone structures are comparable to adults. These environments were dominated by mosasaurs and marine side-necked turtles. IRSNB R25 preserves a complete fracture near the sixth tooth socket. [112] Some Niobraran genera such as Tylosaurus,[115] Cretoxyrhina,[116] hesperornithids,[117] and plesiosaurs including elasmosaurs such as Terminonatator[118] and polycotylids like Dolichorhynchops[119] maintained their presence until around the end of the Campanian, during which the entire Western Interior Seaway started receding from the north. The teeth of P. saturator are much more robust than those of M. hoffmannii and were specifically equipped for preying on robust prey like turtles. [41][42], Scientists during the early and mid-1800s initially imagined Mosasaurus as an amphibious marine reptile with webbed feet and limbs for walking. In 2004, Lingham-Soliar observed that if these injuries were indeed the result of an intraspecific attack, then there is a pattern of them concentrating in the skull region. 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. ", "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. A 2015 study by Rothschild and Everhart surveyed 15 Mosasaurus specimens from North America and Belgium and found cases of fused tail vertebrae in three of them. [7] A particular near-complete skeleton of M. missouriensis is reportedly measured at 6.5 meters (21ft) in total length with a skull approaching 1 meter (3.3ft) in length. In recent studies, the confirmation of paleogeographical affinities extended this range to areas across the Atlantic including Brazil and the East Coast state of New Jersey. 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. [109] Mosasaurus continued to be the dominant genus in the seaway until the end of the Navesinkan Age at the end of the Cretaceous. [16][17][18] This caught the attention of French revolutionaries, who looted the fossil following the capture of Maastricht during the French Revolutionary Wars in 1794. Schlegel's hypothesis was largely ignored by contemporary scientists but became widely accepted by the 1870s when Othniel Charles Marsh and Cope uncovered more complete mosasaur remains in North America. [128], By the end of the Cretaceous, mosasaurs were at the height of their evolutionary radiation, and their extinction was a sudden event. The genus adapted by accessing new habitats in more open waters. [2], Distribution, ecosystem, and ecological impact. Sea turtles such as Allopleurodon hoffmanni and Glyptochelone suickerbuycki were also prevalent in the area and other marine reptiles including indeterminate elasmosaurs have been occasionally found. [125], Known fossils of Mosasaurus have typically been recovered from deposits representing nearshore habitats during the Cretaceous period, with some fossils coming from deeper-water deposits. In a 1798 narrative of this event by Barthlemy Faujas de Saint-Fond, the skull was allegedly retrieved by twelve grenadiers in exchange for an offer of 600 bottles of wine. [f][40] The cutting edges of M. beaugei are neither serrated nor smooth, but instead possess minute wrinkles known as crenulations. But especially compared to those in M. lemonnieri, the pterygoid teeth in M. hoffmannii are relatively small, which indicates ratchet feeding was relatively unimportant to its hunting and feeding. [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. Mosasaurus faced competition with other large predatory mosasaurs such as Prognathodon and Tylosauruswhich were known to feed on similar preythough they were able to coexist in the same ecosystems through niche partitioning. Scientists believe that mosasaurus was able to swim at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour. [11][42] The cutting edges of Mosasaurus differ by species. On the lower jaw, only one type, the dentary teeth, were present. [11] The ilium is rod-like and slender; in M. missouriensis, it is around 1.5 times longer than the femur. It's shorter by 5 m (16 ft), is about one-quarter of the megalodon's weight, and has only about half the bite power of the megalodon's bite. 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. [n][o][38] However, Russell used an early method of phylogenetics and did not use cladistics. fossils from Alabama, the Demopolis Chalk, and the Hornerstown Formation. [74], In 1997, Bell published the first cladistical study of North American mosasaurs. As a tropical area, bony fish such as Enchodus and Stratodus and various sharks were common throughout the southern Tethyan margin. [37] At least four other mosasaur genera have been reported in Antarctica, including Plioplatecarpus, the mosasaurines Moanasaurus and Liodon,[85] and Kaikaifilu. Teeth were constantly shed through a process where the replacement tooth developed within the root of the original tooth and then pushed it out of the jaw. [102][106], The southern Tethyan margin was located along the equator between 20N and 20S, resulting in warmer tropical climates. [53] Based on personal observations of various unpublished fossils from Morocco, Nathalie Bardet estimated that M. beaugei grew to a total length of 810 meters (2633ft), their skulls typically measuring around 1 meter (3.3ft) in length,[59] with a body mass of around 1.5 metric tons (1.7 short tons) per Paul (2022). [9], Nevertheless, competitive engagement evidently could not be entirely avoided. These localities include the Midwest and East Coast of the United States, Canada, Europe, Turkey, Russia, the Levant, the African coastline from Morocco[101] to South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, and Antarctica. [129][130] The last fossils of Mosasaurus, which include those of M. hoffmannii and indeterminate species, occur up to the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (K-Pg boundary). Most mosasaur teeth are cone shaped and do not have the cutting edges typical of shark or theropod teeth. [5] The quadrate also housed the hearing structures, with the eardrum residing within a round and concave depression in the outer surface called the tympanic ala.[60] The trachea likely stretched from the esophagus to below the back end of the lower jaw's coronoid process, where it split into smaller pairs of bronchi which extended parallel to each other. [49], The forelimbs of Mosasaurus are wide and robust. The layer was likely deposited as a tsunamite, alternatively nicknamed the "Cretaceous cocktail deposit". [88][126] To account for this, a 2014 study by T. Lynn Harrell Jr. and Alberto Perez-Huerta examined the concentration ratios of neodymium, gadolinium, and ytterbium in M. hoffmannii and Mosasaurus sp. There is considerable morphological variability across the currently-recognized species in Mosasaurusfrom the robustly-built M. hoffmannii to the slender and serpentine M. lemonnieribut an unclear diagnosis (description of distinguishing features) of the type species M. hoffmannii led to a historically problematic classification. [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. hoffmannii. they have 100 lbs bite force What is the bite force of a liger? [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.
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