[35][33] Further mining of the quarry in subsequent years uncovered many additional well-preserved fossils, including multiple partial skeletons which collectively represented nearly the entire skeleton of the species. 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. The region was shallow for a seaway, reaching a maximum depth of about 800900 meters (2,6003,000ft). [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. Both of these dinosaurs have extremely powerful jaws and rows and rows of sharp teeth, though the bite force of the mosasaurus is more powerful than the bite force of the liopleurodon. A redescription of the type specimen in 2017 helped resolve the taxonomy issue and confirmed at least five species to be within the genus. As a tropical area, bony fish such as Enchodus and Stratodus and various sharks were common throughout the southern Tethyan margin. This ancient sea reptile had a slicing bite like no other - Science News [7] Russell (1967) wrote that the length of the jaw equalled one tenth of the body length in the species. T. Rex Bite Strongest Ever on LandTen Times Greater Than Gator's It was hypothesized that these adaptations helped maintain resource partitioning between the two mosasaurs. Previous studies demonstrated that ratios of these three elements can act as a proxy for relative ocean depth of a fossil during early diagenesis without interference from biological processes, with each of the three elements signifying either shallow, deep, or fresh waters. Another five species still nominally classified within Mosasaurus are planned to be reassessed in a future study. hoffmannii, M. missouriensis, M. conodon, M. lemonnieri, and M. beaugei. [24] In 1818, a fossil from Monmouth County, New Jersey became the first North American specimen to be correctly recognized as a Mosasaurus by scientists of the time. Megalodon is coming into the ring with a brutal bite force of 275,000 kPa. Spinosaurus is larger than the T-Rex, but the T-Rex has a far deadlier bite. The study estimated that an M. hoffmannii individual with a skull measuring more than 145cm (57in) would have been up to or more than 11 meters (36ft) in length and weighed 10 metric tons (11 short tons) in body mass. [11][50] In the hindlimbs, the paddle is supported by four sets of digits. These species include one comparable with M. lemonnieri, and another that appears to be closely related to M. [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. hoffmannii had fourteen to sixteen maxillary teeth, fourteen to fifteen dentary teeth, and eight pterygoid teeth;[11][46][50] M. missouriensis had fourteen to fifteen maxillary teeth, fourteen to fifteen dentary teeth, and eight to nine pterygoid teeth;[9][42][64] M. conodon had fourteen to fifteen maxillary teeth, sixteen to seventeen dentary teeth, and eight pterygoid teeth;[11][42] M. lemonnieri had fifteen maxillary teeth, fourteen to seventeen dentary teeth, and eleven to twelve pterygoid teeth;[36][11][42] and M. beaugei had twelve to thirteen maxillary teeth, fourteen to sixteen dentary teeth, and six or more pterygoid teeth. The 10 Strongest Bites in the Animal Kingdom - ThoughtCo [74] He proposed that Mosasaurus evolved from a Clidastes-like mosasaur, and diverged into two lineages, one giving rise to M. conodon and another siring a chronospecies sequence which contained in order of succession M. ivoensis, M. missouriensis, and M. [50], Like all mosasaurs, the lower jaws of Mosasaurus could swing forward and backward. It did not take into account Golduss' 1845 study of M. missouriensis which instead called for a narrower skull, nostrils at the top of the skull, and amphibious terrestrial limbs (the latter being incorrect in modern standards[44]). This led Mosasaurus to become a wastebasket taxon containing as many as fifty different species. This rigid but highly shock-absorbent structure of the cranium likely allowed a powerful bite force. Agnete Weinreich Carlsen considered it the simplest explanation that such conditions were a product of inadequate anatomical adaptation. A 2017 study by Hallie Street and Michael Caldwell performed the first proper diagnosis and description of the M. hoffmannii holotype, which allowed a major taxonomic cleanup confirming five species as likely validM. Did mosasaurus actually have a stronger bite force than t rex? Prognathodon - Prehistoric Wildlife [c][25], The type specimen of M. missouriensis was first described in 1834 by Richard Harlan based on a snout fragment found along the river's Big Bend. The discovery of mosasaurus fossils has helped us better understand the ancient marine ecosystem. [123] Prognathodon and Globidens are also expected to be present based on distribution trends of both genera, although conclusive fossils have yet to be found. They are also broad, flat, and form a paddle. [53] With a skull measuring around 97.7 centimeters (38.5in) in length, M. conodon has been regarded as a small to medium-sized representative of the genus;[11] Paul (2022) estimated its maximum length as being 7m (23ft) and body mass as being 900kg (2,000lb). 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. The parietal foramen in Mosasaurus, which is associated with the parietal eye, is the smallest among mosasaurids. Extensive amounts of bone reparative tissue were also present, suggesting the infection and subsequent healing process may have progressed for a few months. Compare that to the bite force of an adult T. rex about 35,000 newtons or to the puny biting power of humans: 300 newtons. Mosasaurs (from Latin Mosa meaning the ' Meuse ', and Greek sauros meaning 'lizard') comprise a group of extinct, large marine reptiles from the Late Cretaceous. The fracture is covered with a nonunion formation of bony callus with shallow scratch marks and a large pit connected to an abscess canal. [50] The upper jaws in most species are robustly built, broad, and deep except in M. conodon, where they are slender. A lion can exert 600 psi, and jaguar can exert 2000 psi. [53] Polcyn et al. [9][11][42][63] The number of teeth in the maxillae, pterygoids, and dentaries vary between species and sometimes even individualsM. [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. [22] Richard Ellis speculated in 2003 that this may have been the earliest discovery of the second species M. missouriensis,[23] although competing speculations exist. The model was deliberately sculpted incomplete, which Mark Witton believed was likely to save time and money. Megalodon vs Mosasaurus - Fossilicious [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. Like most advanced mosasaurs, the tail bends slightly downwards as it approached the center, but this bend is offset from the dorsal plane at a small degree. [11][42] The cutting edges of Mosasaurus differ by species. Some studies such as Madzia & Cau (2017) also recover, The 2018 MS thesis of Cyrus Green disputes the notion that, Two of the 15 surveyed fossils were reported from the, A dubious taxon that may represent various mosasaurs such as, National Museum of Natural History, France, collection of sculptures of prehistoric animals, Research history of Mosasaurus History of taxonomy, Mosasaur Relation with snakes or monitor lizards, International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "Recent mosasaur discoveries from New Jersey and Delaware, USA: stratigraphy, taphonomy and implications for mosasaur extinction", "Paleoecology of the Delaware Valley region, Part II: Cretaceous to Quaternary", "A mosasaur from the Maastrichtian Fox Hills Formation of the northern Western Interior Seaway of the United States and the synonymy of, "Of German princes and North American rivers: Harlan's lost mosasaur snout rediscovered", "Datum vondst mosasaurus ontdekt: in oktober 1778", "Conjectures relative to the petrifactions found in St. Peter's Mountain near Maestricht", "A Tabular Arrangement of the Organic Remains of the County of Sussex", Transactions of the Geological Society of London, "On the Remains of Extinct Reptiles of the genera, "Mosasauridae Translation and Pronunciation Guide", "Mmoire sur quelques parties moins connues du squelette des sauriens fossiles de Maestricht", "Premire note sur les Mosasauriens de Mesvin", "A new Plotosaurini mosasaur skull from the upper Maastrichtian of Antarctica. First, the genus was severely underrepresented by incorporating only the three North American species M. hoffmannii/M. The eye sockets were located at the sides of the skull, which created a narrow field of binocular vision at around 28.5[50][87] but alternatively allowed excellent processing of a two-dimensional environment, such as the near-surface waters inhabited by Mosasaurus. [50][61] Tylosaurus bernardi, the only surviving species of the genus during the Maastrichtian, measured up to 12.2 meters (40ft) in length[127] while the largest coexisting species of Prognathodon like P. saturator exceeded 12 meters (39ft). Fossil vertebrae from the layer were found with fractures formed after death. Even the [Tyrannosaurus rex] bite would be puny by comparison. 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. [129] Any Mosasaurus surviving the immediate cataclysms by taking refuge in deeper waters would have died out due to starvation from a loss of prey. (Squamata, Mosasauridae) from the Maastrichtian of Angola, and the affinities of the mosasaur genus Liodon - Proceedings of the Second Mosasaur Meeting . Its four limbs were shaped into robust paddles to steer the animal underwater. The margin provided a warm-temperate climate with habitats dominated by mosasaurs and sea turtles. At least two species of Mosasaurus have been described, but the true number of species is unknown as remains are often fragmentary and specimens are described in open nomenclature. Fossil evidence suggests Mosasaurus inhabited much of the Atlantic Ocean and the seaways adjacent to it. [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. M. lemmonieri had the most vertebrae in the genus, with up to around forty dorsal vertebrae, twenty-two pygal vertebrae, and ninety caudal vertebrae. [f][40] The cutting edges of M. beaugei are neither serrated nor smooth, but instead possess minute wrinkles known as crenulations. Several fossils document deliberate attacks on Mosasaurus individuals by members of the same species. [112][103][113], In what is now Alabama within the Southern Interior Subprovince, most of the key genera including sharks like Cretoxyrhina and the mosasaurs Clidastes, Tylosaurus, Globidens, Halisaurus, and Platecarpus disappeared and were replaced by Mosasaurus. Stomach contents of P. overtoni included turtles and ammonites, providing another example of a diet specialized for harder prey. 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. [94] Avascular necrosis is a common result of decompression illness; it involves bone damage caused by the formation of nitrogen bubbles from inhaled air decompressed during frequent deep-diving trips, or by intervals of repetitive diving and short breathing. [7][9] Third, there was still a lack of comparative studies of the skeletal anatomy of large mosasaurines at the time. fossils from Alabama, the Demopolis Chalk, and the Hornerstown Formation. 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. Mosasaurus (/mozsrs/; "lizard of the Meuse River") is the type genus (defining example) of the mosasaurs, an extinct group of aquatic squamate reptiles. [50] The texture of the bones is virtually identical with in modern whales, which indicates Mosasaurus possessed a high range of aquatic adaptation and neutral buoyancy as seen in cetaceans. [85] M. sp. These and other features support a large and powerful paddle-like fluke in Mosasaurus. Mosasaurus vs Megalodon: Who Would Win In A Fight? It has been pointed out how 13C can be influenced by other factors in an animal's lifestyle, such as diet and diving behavior. Mosasaurus is a genus of large aquatic carnivorous lizard from the Late Cretaceous about 70-66 million years ago. The fossil was delivered to Georg August Goldfuss in Bonn for research, who published a study in 1845. (2014) estimated that M. missouriensis may have measured up to 89 meters (2630ft) in length. The dentaries ahead of the fractures in both specimens are in good condition, suggesting that the arteries and trigeminal nerves had not been damaged; if they were, those areas would have necrotized due to lack of blood. [108] Extensive drainage from the neighboring continents, Appalachia and Laramidia, brought in vast amounts of sediment. [58][91], Attacks by another Mosasaurus are a possible cause of physical pathologies in other skulls, but they could have instead arisen from other incidents like attempted biting on hard turtle shells. In addition, they exclusively feature M. conodon, Halisaurus platyspondylus and Prognathodon rapax. [38] Based on this ratio, Grigoriev (2014) used the largest lower jaw attributed to M. hoffmannii (CCMGE 10/2469, also known as the Penza specimen; measuring 171 centimeters (67in) in length) to estimate a maximum length of 17.1 meters (56ft). [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. [50], Mosasaurus swam using its tail. 19 Facts About Mosasaurus [2023] - BlogDigger 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. [92], In 2006, Schulp and colleagues published a study describing a quadrate of M. hoffmannii with multiple unnatural openings and an estimated 0.5 liters (0.13U.S.gal) of tissue destroyed. Mosasaur | Fossil Wiki | Fandom Considering how the individual was able to survive such conditions for an extended period of time, Schulp and colleagues speculated it switched to a foraging-type diet of soft-bodied prey like squid that could be swallowed whole to minimize jaw use. [11][42][61][62] Mosasaurus teeth are large and robust except for those in M. conodon and M. lemonnieri, which instead have more slender teeth. they have 100 lbs bite force What is the bite force of a liger? [7], In 1995, Lingham-Soliar studied the head musculature of M. hoffmannii. [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. [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. [99][97] Some areas in Europe and South Dakota have yielded concentrated assemblages of juvenile M. hoffmannii, M. missouriensis and/or M. lemonnieri. Mosasaurus fossils have been found in places as diverse as North and South America, Europe, Africa, Western Asia, and Antarctica. "The science of the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, part 2: "The world's first dinosaur park: what the Victorians got right and wrong", "Convergent Evolution in Aquatic Tetrapods: Insights from an Exceptional Fossil Mosasaur". The genus existed during the Maastrichtian age of the Cretaceous period (Mesozoic era), around 70-65 million years ago in the area of modern Western Europe and North America. [30] The same year, Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer suspected that the skull and Harlan's snout were part of the same individual. Prognathodon had a robust and heavy jaw that would have been capable of withstanding a high bite force supplied by powerful jaw muscles. However it's the teeth that should receive . [74], In 1997, Bell published the first cladistical study of North American mosasaurs. [n][o][38] However, Russell used an early method of phylogenetics and did not use cladistics. [7][36] Despite being the best anatomically represented species, M. lemonnieri was largely ignored in scientific literature. [16][43], One of the earliest depictions of Mosasaurus in paleoart is a life-size concrete sculpture created by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins[44] between 1852 and 1854[45] as part of the collection of sculptures of prehistoric animals on display at the Crystal Palace Park in London. The lack of a strong sense of smell suggests that olfaction was not particularly important in Mosasaurus; instead, other senses like vision may have been more useful. [85] Located within the polar circle at around 65S,[104] temperatures at medium to large water depths would have been around 6C (43F) on average, while sea surface temperatures may have dropped below freezing and sea ice may have formed at times. At the time, Europe was a scattering of islands with most of the modern continental landmass being underwater. Together with the formation of a nutrient-rich deepwater mass from the mixing of continental freshwater, Arctic waters from the north, and warmer saline Tethyan waters from the south, this created a warm and productive seaway that supported a rich diversity of marine life. [93], There are some M. hoffmannii jaws with evidence of infectious diseases as a result of physical injuries. ;[58] Paul (2022) estimated an individual of that size to weigh 700 kilograms (1,500lb). 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. This was based on fossils like the M. missouriensis holotype, which indicated an elastic vertebral column that Goldfuss in 1845 saw as evidence of an ability to walk and interpretations of some phalanges as claws. [50][61] Fauna likely preyed upon by the genus include bony fish, sharks, cephalopods, birds, and marine reptiles such as other mosasaurs[61] and turtles. Due coexistence with other large mosasaurs like Prognathodon, which specialized in robust prey, M. missouriensis likely specialized more on prey best consumed using cutting-adapted teeth in an example of niche partitioning. [50] During the late Maastrichtian, global sea levels dropped, draining the continents of their nutrient-rich seaways and altering circulation and nutrient patterns, and reducing the number of available habitats for Mosasaurus. [9][50][61], A study published in 2013 by Schulp and colleagues specifically tested how mosasaurs such as M. hoffmannii and P. saturator were able to coexist in the same localities through 13C analysis. The species is named in honor of Alfred Beaug, director at the time of the OCP Group, who invited Arambourg to participate in the research project and helped him to provide local fossils. Theagarten Lingham-Soliar suggested two reasons for this neglect. conodon. [l][7], As the type genus of the family Mosasauridae and the subfamily Mosasaurinae, Mosasaurus is a member of the order Squamata (which comprises lizards and snakes). [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. The Northern Interior Subprovince also saw a restructuring of mosasaur assemblages, characterized by the disappearance of mosasaurs like Platecarpus and their replacement by Mosasaurus and Plioplatecarpus. 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. [53], The skull of Mosasaurus is conical and tapers off to a short snout which extends a little beyond the frontmost teeth. The femur itself is about twice as long as it is wide and ends at the distal side in a pair of distinct articular facets (of which one connects to the ilium and the other to the paddle bones) that meet at an angle of approximately 120. Please consider to SUBSCRIBE:https://www.youtube.com/c/WildCiencias?sub_confirmation=1 For business inquiries: wil. It is geographically subdivided into two biogeographic provinces that respectively include the northern and southern Tethyan margins. [11][32] In his description, Cope does not provide the etymology for the specific epithet conodon,[31] but it is suggested that it could be a portmanteau meaning "conical tooth", derived from the Ancient Greek (knos, "cone") and (odn, "tooth"), probably in reference to conical surface teeth smooth of the species. (2017). All species of Mosasaurus have seven cervical vertebrae, but other vertebral counts vary among them. With the impending release of the fourth film in the Jurassic Park series we thought we'd present you with the most ferocious bites in the dinosaur kingdom. 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], The tissue structure of Mosasaurus' bones suggests it had a metabolic rate much higher than modern squamates and its resting metabolic rate was between that of the leatherback sea turtle and that of ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs. [22] He coined the specific epithet and initially identified it as a species of Ichthyosaurus[28] but later as an amphibian. [52] Mentioning the Penza specimen, Gregory S. Paul estimated in his 2022 book, The Princeton Field Guide to Mesozoic Sea Reptiles, a shorter maximum length for M. hoffmannii of 13 meters (43ft) and a body mass of 5.5 metric tons (6.1 short tons). How much bite force does a hyena have? Liopleurodon vs Mosasaurus: Who Would Win in a Fight? [7][36] Compared to other mosasaurs, the rib cage of Mosasaurus is unusually deep and forms an almost perfect semicircle, giving it a barrel-shaped chest. As a result, some paleontologists caution that lower-order classification results from Conrad's 2008 study such as the specific placement of Mosasaurus may contain technical problems, making them inaccurate. Scale bar is 50 mm in B and 20 mm in D. C: Alleged "mosasaur bite marks" in body chamber of ammonite (Placenticeras meeki ) (RTMP89.42.36), Bearpaw Formation, Late Cretaceous, St. Mary River . Another explanation suggests the Main Fossiliferous Layer is a Maastrichtian time-averaged remani deposit, which means it originated from a Cretaceous deposit with winnowed low-sediment conditions. [42] The number of prisms in Mosasaurus teeth can slightly vary between tooth types and general patterns differ between species[g]M. What is the strongest bite force of all time that we know of - Reddit The force of its bite was remarkably powerful: 11,000 pounds. Nevertheless, fossils of other mosasaurs with invariable avascular necrosis still exhibit substantial adaptations like eardrums that were well-protected from rapid changes in pressure. The powerful forces resulting from utilization of the paddles may have sometimes resulted in bone damage, as evidenced by a M. hoffmannii ilium with significant separation of the bone's head from the rest of the bone likely caused by frequent shearing forces at the articulation joint. [d][50] No explicit justification for the 1:10 ratio was provided in Russell (1967),[38] and it has been considered to be probably overestimated by Cleary et al. First, M. lemonnieri fossils are endemic to Belgium and the Netherlands, which despite the famous discovery of the M. hoffmannii holotype attracted little attention from mosasaur paleontologists.
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