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Mosasaurus (/ ˌ m oʊ z ə ˈ s ɔːr ə s /; "lizard of the Meuse River") is the type genus (defining example) of the mosasaurs, an extinct group of aquatic squamate reptiles.It lived from about 82 to 66 million years ago during the Campanian and Maastrichtian stages of the Late Cretaceous.
The smaller mosasaurs may have spent some time in fresh water, hunting for food. The largest mosasaur Mosasaurus hoffmannii was the apex predator of the Late Cretaceous oceans, reaching more than 11 metres (36 ft) in length and weighing up to 10 metric tons (11 short tons) in body mass. [14]
The specific placement of Mosasauria within the Squamata has been controversial since its inception, with early debate focusing on the classification of the mosasaurs. Cuvier was the first scientist to deeply analyze their possible taxonomic placement through Mosasaurus. While his original 1808 hypothesis that the genus was a lizard with ...
Skeleton of Clidastes liodontus mounted as if pursuing a fossil sea turtle. Russell (1967, pp. 123–124) [6] defined the Mosasaurinae as differing from all other mosasaurs as follows: "Small rostrum present or absent anterior to premaxillary teeth.
A mosasaur with an almost crocodilian-like head and was one of the few kinds to live in freshwater. It lived in rivers and hunted both aquatic and terrestrial animals in the area. †Hainosaurus †Hainosaurus bernardi ; 70.6–66 Ma Sweden A tylosaurine mosasaur that had more vertebrae in the neck and tail than its Tylosaurus cousin. It is one ...
For millions of years, dinosaurs ruled the land and sky. Back in 2014, a team of scientists led by Nizar Ibrahim of the University of Detroit Mercy discovered a partial fossil of a massive ...
Yaguarasaurines were primitive and comparatively small to medium-sized mosasaurs that lived during the earlier stages of mosasaur evolutionary history. Yaguarasaurus columbianus itself is the largest species of the subfamily, with the largest known skeleton at a length of 5 metres and a massive isolated skull indicating larger sizes. This ...
Mosasauroidea is a superfamily of extinct marine lizards that existed during the Late Cretaceous.Basal members of this group consist of small semiaquatic forms with terrestrial limbs ("plesiopedal"), while laters members include larger fully aquatic paddle-limbed ("hydropedal") forms commonly known as mosasaurs. [3]