Real FOSSIL MOSASAUR TOOTH - Excellent Fossil - Creataceous Period (65 Million Years+) - FOSSIL DINOSAUR TOOTH - Great Gift Idea

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Many of the earliest fossils of Mosasaurus were found in Campanian stage deposits in North America, including the Western Interior Seaway, an inland sea which once flowed through what is now the central United States and Canada, and connected the Arctic Ocean to the modern-day Gulf of Mexico. The region was shallow for a seaway, reaching a maximum depth of about 800–900 meters (2,600–3,000ft). [108] Extensive drainage from the neighboring continents, Appalachia and Laramidia, brought in vast amounts of sediment. 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. [109] [110] [111] ZIETLOW: -it's the size of a school bus with flipper-like limbs, a shark-like tail, and an extra row of teeth on the roof of its mouth. Mosasaurus probably hunted in fairly deep waters, but would not have traveled too far from the shore, according to the NMNH. a b c d Mike Everhart (May 14, 2010). " Mosasaurus hoffmanni-The First Discovery of a Mosasaur?". Oceans of Kansas. Archived from the original on September 4, 2019 . Retrieved November 6, 2019. By the end of the Cretaceous, mosasaurs were at the height of their evolutionary radiation, and their extinction was a sudden event. [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. The genus adapted by accessing new habitats in more open waters. [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). The demise of the genus was likely a result of the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event which also wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs. Mosasaurus fossils have been found less than 15 meters (49ft) below the boundary in the Maastricht Formation, the Davutlar Formation in Turkey, the Jagüel Formation in Argentina, Stevns Klint in Denmark, Seymour Island, and Missouri. [131]

a b c d e Paul, Gregory S. (2022). The Princeton Field Guide to Mesozoic Sea Reptiles. Princeton University Press. pp.175–176. ISBN 9780691193809. Dimitry V. Grigoriev (2013). "Redescription of Prognathodon lutugini (Squamata, Mosasauridae)" (PDF). Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS. 317 (3): 246–261. doi: 10.31610/trudyzin/2013.317.3.246. S2CID 189800203. Fedrico Fanti; Andrea Cau; Alessandra Negri (2014). "A giant mosasaur (Reptilia, Squamata) with an unusually twisted dentition from the Argille Scagliose Complex (late Campanian) of Northern Italy" (PDF). Cretaceous Research. 49 (2014): 91–104. Bibcode: 2014CrRes..49...91F. doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2014.01.003.Tamaki Sato (2005). "A new polycotylid plesiosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Upper Cretaceous Bearpaw Formation in Saskatchewan, Canada". Journal of Paleontology. 79 (5): 969–980. doi: 10.1666/0022-3360(2005)079[0969:anpprs]2.0.co;2. S2CID 131128997. a b David B. Kemp; Stuart A. Robinson; J. Alistair Crame; Jane E. Francis; Jon Ineson; Rowan J. Whittle; Vanessa Bowman; Charlotte O'Brien (2014). "A cool temperate climate on the Antarctic Peninsula through the latest Cretaceous to early Paleogene". Geology. 42 (7): 583–586. Bibcode: 2014Geo....42..583K. doi: 10.1130/g35512.1. Related: Dinosaur-killing asteroid triggered mile-high tsunami that spread through Earth's oceans Additional resources One specimen traditionally attributed to M. lemonnieri has serration-like features in its cutting edges. Scientists believe this specimen likely belongs to a different species. [40]

a b Tiago R. Simões; Oksana Vernygora; Ilaria Paparella; Paulina Jimenez-Huidobro; Michael W. Caldwell (2017). "Mosasauroid phylogeny under multiple phylogenetic methods provides new insights on the evolution of aquatic adaptations in the group". PLOS ONE. 12 (5): e0176773. Bibcode: 2017PLoSO..1276773S. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0176773. PMC 5415187. PMID 28467456.A model mosasaur skull sits next to a plastic grey replica of what a mosasaur would have looked like alive. Its mouth is wide open showing many teeth. It is likely that Mosasaurus was viviparous (giving live birth) like most modern mammals today. There is no evidence for live birth in Mosasaurus itself, but it is known in a number of other mosasaurs; [97] examples include a skeleton of a pregnant Carsosaurus, [97] a Plioplatecarpus fossil associated with fossils of two mosasaur embryos, [98] and fossils of newborn Clidastes from pelagic (open ocean) deposits. [97] Such fossil records, along with a total absence of any evidence suggesting external egg-based reproduction, indicates the likeliness of viviparity in Mosasaurus. [97] [98] Microanatomical studies on bones of juvenile Mosasaurus and related genera have found that their bone structures are comparable to adults. 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. [99] [97] Some areas in Europe and South Dakota have yielded concentrated assemblages of juvenile M. hoffmannii, M. missouriensis and/or M. lemonnieri. These localities are all shallow ocean deposits, suggesting that juvenile Mosasaurus may still have lived in shallow waters. [100] Paleoecology [ edit ] Distribution, ecosystem, and ecological impact [ edit ] Mosasaurus inhabited the Western Interior Seaway of North America and Mediterranean Tethys of Europe and Africa. David J. Cicimurri; Gorden L. Bell, Jr.; Philip W. Stoffer (1999). "Vertebrate Paleontology of the Pierre Shale and Fox Hills Formations (Late Campanian-Late Maastrichtian) of Badlands National Park, South Dakota" (PDF). National Park Service Paleontological Research. 4: 1–7. Dr. Nathalie Bardet, a marine reptile specialist from the Museum of Natural History in Paris, said, "I've worked on the mosasaurs of Morocco for more than 20 years, and I'd never seen anything like this before—I was both perplexed and amazed."

Heinrich Georg Bronn (1838). Lethaea Geognostica Oder Abbildungen und Beschreibungen Der für die Gebirgs-Formationen bezeichnendsten Versteinerungen (in German). Vol.2. Stuttgart. p.760. doi: 10.5962/bhl.title.59080. Although scientists have debated the role of environmental changes towards the end of the Cretaceous in the extinction, Stelladens, along with recent discoveries from of Morocco, suggests that mosasaurs were evolving rapidly up to the very end—they went out at their peak, rather than fading away. a b Gorden L. Bell Jr.; James E. Martin (1995). "Direct evidence of aggressive intraspecific competition in Mosasaurus conodon (Mosasauridae:Squamata)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 15 (suppl. to 3): 18A. doi: 10.1080/02724634.1995.10011277. Johan Lindgren; Michael W. Caldwell; Takuya Konishi; Luis M. Chiappe (2010). "Convergent Evolution in Aquatic Tetrapods: Insights from an Exceptional Fossil Mosasaur". PLOS ONE. 5 (8): e11998. Bibcode: 2010PLoSO...511998L. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0011998. PMC 2918493. PMID 20711249. ZIETLOW: So it was really cool to be the first person to touch these fossils in 30 years. Part of my research here is describing that fossil so we can-Occasionally, mosasaur fossils were preserved with their stomach contents intact, which helps paleontologists learn more about their hunting strategies. For example, paleontologists in Canada uncovered a specimen from the species Mosasaurus missouriensis with large fish bones inside it, according to National Geographic. The fish was larger than the mosasaur's head, and the placement of the bones suggested the mosasaur had devoured its prey piece by piece. Thomas S. Tobin; Peter D. Ward; Eric J. Steig; Eduardo B. Olivero; Isaac A. Hilburn; Ross N. Mitchell; Matthew R. Diamond; Timothy D. Raub; Joseph L. Kirschvink (2012). "Extinction patterns, δ18 O trends, and magnetostratigraphy from a southern high-latitude Cretaceous–Paleogene section: Links with Deccan volcanism". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 350–352: 180–188. Bibcode: 2012PPP...350..180T. doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2012.06.029. Carbon isotope studies on fossils of multiple M. hoffmannii individuals have found extremely low values of δ 13C, the lowest in all mosasaurs for the largest individuals. Mosasaurs with lower δ 13C values tended to occupy higher trophic levels, and one factor for this was dietary: a diet of prey rich in lipids such as sea turtles and other large marine reptiles can lower δ 13C values. M. hoffmannii's low δ 13C levels reinforces its likely position as an apex predator. [61] That several teeth were found with the same shape suggests their strange shape was not the result of a pathology or a mutation. Silhouette showing the approximate size of Stelladens mysteriosus. Scale = 2 m. Credit: Fossils (2023). DOI: 10.3390/fossils1010002