MARINE REPTILE FOSSILS FROM THE LATE CRETACEOUS (CENOMANIAN) COLERAINE FORMATION OF NORTHERN MINNESOTA (USA)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Hastings ◽  
◽  
John Westgaard ◽  
H. Douglas Hanks
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Marine Reptile

scholarly journals Rib fracture in Prognathodon saturator (Mosasauridae, Late Cretaceous)

2004 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 251-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.S. Schulp ◽  
G.H.I.M. Walenkamp ◽  
P.A.M. Hofman ◽  
B.M. Rothschild ◽  
J.W.M. Jagt
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Internal Surface ◽  
Stress Fractures ◽  
Rib Fracture ◽  
Agonistic Behaviour ◽  
As Stress ◽  
Marine Reptile

AbstractTwo unusual bumps occur on the internal surface of a rib of the marine reptile Prognathodon saturator from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Maastricht, The Netherlands. These bumps are interpreted as stress fractures, possibly related to agonistic behaviour.

Rediagnosis and redescription of Mosasaurus hoffmannii (Squamata: Mosasauridae) and an assessment of species assigned to the genus Mosasaurus

2016 ◽  
Vol 154 (3) ◽  
pp. 521-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
HALLIE P. STREET ◽  
MICHAEL W. CALDWELL
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Type Species ◽  
Short Length ◽  
Marine Reptile

AbstractThe large Late Cretaceous marine reptile Mosasaurus has remained poorly defined, in part owing to the unorthodox (by today's nomenclatural standards) manner in which the name was erected. The lack of a diagnosis accompanying the first use of either the genus or species names allowed the genus to become a catchall taxon, and subsequent diagnoses did little to refine the concept of Mosasaurus. We herein present emended diagnoses for both Mosasaurus and the type species M. hoffmannii, based solely on personal examination of the holotype, and a description of the type species based on personal examination of many specimens. Mosasaurus exhibits a premaxilla with a short, conical edentulous rostrum, a maxilla with little to no dorsal excavation for the external naris, posteromedial processes of the frontal that deeply invade the parietal, a quadrate taller than long with a short suprastapedial process and the stapedial pit dorsal to the mid-height of the shaft, an angular that is laterally visible for only a short length of the post-dentary unit, a very tall surangular, a humerus with the postglenoid process robust and offset and a distal width greater than the length, and a pubis with an anteriorly projecting tubercle. M. hoffmannii is distinguished from other species assignable to the genus by the anteroventral corner formed on the tympanic rim of the quadrate, the asymmetric carinae of the anterior marginal teeth dividing the tooth circumference into short labial and long lingual segments, and the proximal and distal expansion of the femur.

scholarly journals Bone-eating Osedax worms lived on Mesozoic marine reptile deadfalls

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 20150072 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Danise ◽  
Nicholas D. Higgs
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Hydrothermal Vents ◽  
Food Source ◽  
Sea Turtle ◽  
Trace Fossils ◽  
Marine Birds ◽  
Late Mesozoic ◽  
Marine Reptile ◽  
Early Late

We report fossil traces of Osedax , a genus of siboglinid annelids that consume the skeletons of sunken vertebrates on the ocean floor, from early-Late Cretaceous (approx. 100 Myr) plesiosaur and sea turtle bones. Although plesiosaurs went extinct at the end-Cretaceous mass extinction (66 Myr), chelonioids survived the event and diversified, and thus provided sustenance for Osedax in the 20 Myr gap preceding the radiation of cetaceans, their main modern food source. This finding shows that marine reptile carcasses, before whales, played a key role in the evolution and dispersal of Osedax and confirms that its generalist ability of colonizing different vertebrate substrates, like fishes and marine birds, besides whale bones, is an ancestral trait. A Cretaceous age for unequivocal Osedax trace fossils also dates back to the Mesozoic the origin of the entire siboglinid family, which includes chemosynthetic tubeworms living at hydrothermal vents and seeps, contrary to phylogenetic estimations of a Late Mesozoic–Cenozoic origin (approx. 50–100 Myr).

Large predatory marine reptiles from the Albian–Cenomanian of Annopol, Poland

2015 ◽  
Vol 153 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
NATHALIE BARDET ◽  
VALENTIN FISCHER ◽  
MARCIN MACHALSKI
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Marine Ecosystems ◽  
Marine Reptiles ◽  
Marine Reptile ◽  
Early Late ◽  
Temporal Extent

AbstractDuring the Early–Late Cretaceous transition, marine ecosystems in Eurasia hosted a diverse set of large predatory reptiles that occupied various niches. However, most of our current knowledge of these animals is restricted to a small number of bonebed-like deposits. Little is known of the geographical and temporal extent of such associations. The middle Albian – middle Cenomanian phosphorite-bearing succession exposed at Annopol, Poland produces numerous ichthyosaurian and plesiosaurian fossils. These are mostly isolated skeletal elements (e.g. teeth, vertebrae), but disarticulated partial skeletons and an articulated, subvertically embedded ichthyosaur skull are also available. The following taxa are identified: ‘Platypterygius’ sp., cf. Ophthalmosaurinae, Ichthyosauria indet.,Polyptychodon interruptus, Pliosauridae indet., Elasmosauridae indet. and Plesiosauria indet. The large-sized ichthyosaur ‘Platypterygius’ and the pliosauridPolyptychodon interruptuspredominate within the upper Albian – middle Cenomanian deposits. The Annopol record, combined with data from England, France and western Russia, suggests that ‘Platypterygius’ andPolyptychodon interruptusformed a long-term, stable ecological sympatry in marine ecosystems of the European archipelago, at least during the Albian – middle Cenomanian. In addition, the marine reptile assemblage from Annopol is distinct from other Eurasian ecosystems in containing also elasmosaurids in its Albian portion.

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