[83] It may have also been a factor that allowed Mosasaurus to thrive in the colder climates of locations such as Antarctica. 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. T. Rex Bite Strongest Ever on LandTen Times Greater Than Gator's Laelaps . . The latter rendered Mosasaurus paraphyletic (an unnatural grouping), but Bell (1997) nevertheless recognized Plotosaurus as a distinct genus. Megalodon is coming into the ring with a brutal bite force of 275,000 kPa. The rare earth element ratios were very consistent throughout most of the examined Mosasaurus fossils, indicating consistent habitat preference, and clustered towards a ratio representing offshore habitats with ocean depths deeper than 50 meters (160ft). 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. [128], By the end of the Cretaceous, mosasaurs were at the height of their evolutionary radiation, and their extinction was a sudden event. hoffmannii, M. missouriensis, M. lemonnieri, and a proposed new species 'M. Its tail was long and ended in a downward bend and a paddle-like fluke. A new analysis published on Wednesday of fossils of the creature unearthed in 1975 has determined that it deserves to be recognized as a new genus of mosasaur based on skeletal traits including a. The first Mosasaurus fossil known to science was discovered in 1764 in a chalk quarry near Maastricht in the Netherlands in the form of a skull, which was initially identified as a whale. 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. Plotosaurini paleogeographic occurrences", "Hermann Schlegel's investigation of the Maastricht mosasaurs". It likely preferred to hunt in open water near the surface. The exact affinities of Mosasaurus as a squamate remain controversial, and scientists continue to debate whether its closest living relatives are monitor lizards or snakes. [30], Mosasaurus was a type of derived mosasaur, or a latecoming member with advanced evolutionary traits such as a fully aquatic lifestyle. [h][66], One of the most complete Mosasaurus skeletons in terms of vertebral representation (Mosasaurus sp. It was hypothesized that these adaptations helped maintain resource partitioning between the two mosasaurs. [58][90] In 2006, Schulp and colleagues speculated that Mosasaurus may have occasionally engaged in cannibalism as a result of intraspecific aggression. Paleontologists have done some sort of biomechanical modeling based on teeth we've found, and they calculated the bite force would be about 40,000 pounds per square inch, which is by far the highest bite force ever calculated for any animal, living or extinct. This was by observing the von Ebner lines, incremental marks in dentin that form daily. This enabled these monster sharks to munch . 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. [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. [36] Above the gum line in both jaws, a single row of small pits known as foramina are lined parallel to the jawline; they are used to hold the terminal branches of jaw nerves. Mosasaurus vs Megalodon: Who Would Win In A Fight? This indicates that both Mosasaurus species may have either been habitual deep-divers or repetitive divers. [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. This was likely a severe bone infection initiated by septic arthritis, which progressed to the point where a large portion of the quadrate was reduced to abscess. Of the mosasaurs, Globidens phosphaticus is the characteristic species of the southern province; in the African and Arabian domain, Halisaurus arambourgi and 'Platecarpus ptychodon'[r][102] were also common mosasaurs alongside Globidens. This concept was revolutionary at the time and helped support the then-developing ideas of extinction. [124] The fish assemblage of the Lpez de Bertodano Formation was dominated by Enchodus and ichthyodectiformes. What If the Megalodon Shark Fought the Mosasaurus? [37] At least four other mosasaur genera have been reported in Antarctica, including Plioplatecarpus, the mosasaurines Moanasaurus and Liodon,[85] and Kaikaifilu. Mosasaurus fossils have been found less than 15 meters (49ft) below the boundary in the Maastricht Formation, the Davutlar Formation in Turkey, the Jagel Formation in Argentina, Stevns Klint in Denmark, Seymour Island, and Missouri. they have 100 lbs bite force What is the bite force of a liger? [10] In M. missouriensis, the bar is robust and does not constrict. Watch out for its bite, as it has a force of 275,000 kPa (40,000 psi). [38][55] He also measured the dimensions of IRSNB 3119 and recorded that the skull constituted approximately one-eleventh of the whole body. 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 swimming style was likely sub-carangiform, which is exemplified today by mackerels. hoffmannii had two to three prisms on the labial side (the side facing outwards) and no prisms on the lingual side (the side facing the tongue), M. missouriensis had four to six labial prisms and eight lingual prisms, M. lemonnieri had eight to ten labial prisms, and M. beaugei had three to five labial prisms and eight to nine lingual prisms. Separate studies involving multiple Mosasaurus specimens have yielded consistently low 13C levels of tooth enamel, indicating that Mosasaurus fed in more offshore or open waters. Teeth were constantly shed through a process where the replacement tooth developed within the root of the original tooth and then pushed it out of the jaw. Reptile dubbed 'Jaws of Death' terrorized Cretaceous seas He clarified that earlier interpretations of claws were erroneous and demonstrated how the phalanges show no indication of muscle or tendon attachment, which would make walking impossible. MEGALODON VS MOSASAURUS - Who Would Win? [46] Using a smaller partial jaw (NHMM 009002) measuring 90 centimeters (35in) and "reliably estimated at" 160 centimeters (63in) when complete, Lingham-Soliar (1995) estimated a larger maximum length of 17.6 meters (58ft) via the same ratio. Mosasaurus was 40 feet. [38][71][74], One of the earliest relevant attempts at an evolutionary study of Mosasaurus was done by Russell in 1967. [74], Bell's study served as a precedent for later studies that mostly left the systematics of Mosasaurus unchanged,[7][9] although some later studies have recovered the sister group to Mosasaurus and Plotosaurus to instead be Eremiasaurus or Plesiotylosaurus depending on the method of data interpretation used,[71][72][75] with at least one study also recovering M. missouriensis to be the most basal species of the genus instead of M. First, the genus was severely underrepresented by incorporating only the three North American species M. hoffmannii/M. [76] In 2014, Konishi and colleagues expressed a number of concerns with the reliance on Bell's study. [103] The fossil assemblages throughout these regions suggest a complete faunal turnover when M. missouriensis and M. conodon appeared at 79.5 Ma, indicating that the presence of Mosasaurus in the Western Interior Seaway had a profound impact on the restructuring of marine ecosystems. They are also broad, flat, and form a paddle. As the proposal remains restricted to a PhD thesis, it is defined as an unpublished work per Article 8 of the ICZN and therefore is not yet formally valid. That title goes to the Dunkleosteus, the real king of the sea when it comes to biting, his jaw could exert aproximately 80,000 psi, which doubles Megalodon and it is because Dunkleosteus' head was specially designed for compressing, its teeth had a special razor design, and it wasnt entirely teeth . [2], Distribution, ecosystem, and ecological impact. Mosasaurus faced competition with other large predatory mosasaurs such as Prognathodon and Tylosauruswhich were known to feed on similar preythough they were able to coexist in the same ecosystems through niche partitioning. Mosasaurus is a genus of large aquatic carnivorous lizard from the Late Cretaceous about 70-66 million years ago. At the time, Europe was a scattering of islands with most of the modern continental landmass being underwater. The validity of some of these genera is disputed as they are primarily based on isolated teeth. [56][57] Street (2016) noted that large M. missouriensis individuals typically had skulls exceeding lengths of 1 meter (3.3ft). The study also held four additional species from Pacific depositsM. [102] Many types of sharks such as Squalicorax, Cretalamna, Serratolamna, and sand sharks,[105] as well as bony fish such as Cimolichthys, the saber-toothed herring Enchodus, and the swordfish-like Protosphyraena are represented in the northern Tethyan margin. [21][b] Cuvier later designated the second skull as the new species' holotype (defining example). [114][121], Mosasaurus is known from late Maastrichtian deposits in the Antarctic Peninsula, specifically the Lpez de Bertodano Formation in Seymour Island. The foramina along the snout form a pattern similar to the foramina in Clidastes skulls. [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. They belong to the order Squamata, which includes lizards and snakes . Dollo names the species in his honor. [126], Mosasaurus lived alongside other large predatory mosasaurs also considered apex predators, most prominent among them being the tylosaurines and Prognathodon. Mosasaurus had a transatlantic distribution, with its fossils having been found in marine deposits on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Mosasaurus gave its name to a group of marine lizards - Mosasaurs. In this case, there were signs of healing around the wound, implying survival of the incident. [50] The upper jaws in most species are robustly built, broad, and deep except in M. conodon, where they are slender. [49], The forelimbs of Mosasaurus are wide and robust. [61], Currently, there is only one known example of a Mosasaurus preserved with stomach contents: a well-preserved partial skeleton of a small M. missouriensis dated about 75 million years old with dismembered and punctured remains of a 1 meter (3.3ft) long fish in its gut. [72] The cladogram on the right (Topology B) is modified from Street's 2016 doctoral thesis proposing a revision to the Mosasaurinae, with proposed new taxa and renamings in single quotations. The earliest fossils of Mosasaurus known to science were found as skulls in a chalk quarry near the Dutch city of Maastricht in the late 18th century, which were initially thought to have been the bones of crocodiles or whales. As befitting mammals that can eat, chew and digest solid bone, spotted hyenas are equipped with massive skulls, disproportionately large trunks and forelimbs, and powerful bites that can rip through carcasses with up to 1,000 pounds of force per square inch. [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. [16][34] This species was re-introduced to science and formally described in 1889 by Louis Dollo based on a skull recovered by Alfred Lemonnier from a phosphate quarry in Belgium. [36] The premaxillary bar,[e] the long portion of the premaxillary bone extending behind the premaxillary teeth, is narrow and constricts near the middle in M. hoffmannii[50] and M. lemonnieri[36] like in typical mosasaurs. [7] Russell (1967) wrote that the length of the jaw equalled one tenth of the body length in the species. The magnus adductor muscles, which attach to the lower jaws to the cranium and have a major role in biting function, are massive, indicating M. hoffmannii was capable of enormous bite forces. [109][110][111], The biogeography of the region has been subdivided into two Interior Subprovinces characterized by different climates and faunal structures, and their borders are separated in modern-day Kansas.