Habitat preference of mosasaurs indicated by rare earth element (REE) content of fossils from the Upper Cretaceous marine deposits of Alabama, New Jersey, and South Dakota (USA)

Knowledge of habitat segregation of mosasaurs has been based on lithology and faunal assemblages associated with fossil remains of mosasaurs and stable isotopes (δ13C). These approaches have sometimes provided equivocal or insufficient information and, therefore, the preference of habitat by different mosasaur taxa is still suboptimally constrained. The present study is focused on the analysis of rare earth element (REE) ratios of mosasaur fossils from the Upper Cretaceous formations of western Alabama, USA. Results of the REE analysis are used to infer the relative paleobathymetry associated with the mosasaur specimens and then to determine if certain taxonomic groups showed a preference for a particular water depth. Comparisons are then made with mosasaur specimens reported in the literature from other regions of North America from different depositional environments. Results indicate that Mosasaurus, Platecarpus and Plioplatecarpus may have preferred more restricted habitats based on water depth whereas Tylosaurus and Clidastes favoured a wider range of environments. Results also suggest that Plioplatecarpus lived in a shallower environment than its Platecarpus predecessor. Although the results of this study are encouraging, caution must be exercised before drawing any final conclusions due to the small sample size of most of the taxa analysed.