In Depth A not very well known genus of mosasaur, Ectenosaurus has still helped us to confirm that older ideas about how mosasaurs swam are simply wrong. Over a hundred years ago mosasaurs were thought to have been close relatives of snakes (again an idea that is now seen as wrong), and like them the … Read more
In Depth Kaikaifilu is certainly an interesting genus of mosasaur. First it was one of the larger mosasaurs known to have been hunting in the waters of the Southern hemisphere. Also, the teeth of Kaikaifilu were heterodont, meaning that there were different forms of teeth within the mouth. This makes Kaikaifilu to be the only … Read more
In Depth At the time of writing Pluridens is only known from lower jaws, but these show that this mosasaur was a highly specialised hunter. The lower jaw of Pluridens had at least twenty-eight tightly packed teeth, more than in other known mosasaurs, and hence the inspiration for the name Pluridens which means ‘many teeth’. … Read more
In Depth Saniwa is one of the better known genera of prehistoric monitor lizard, and although initially only known from North America, specimens are now known from Europe as well as northern Asia. Like monitor lizards living today, Saniwa was a predator. Juvenile monitor lizards tend to focus upon hunting invertebrates like insects, but as … Read more
In Depth Tetrapodophis is an interesting snake to say the least since it was the first snake genus known to still have all four legs to be named. For the most part these legs are on the border of being vestigial, yet still defined and functional enough to serve a gripping purpose. Tetrapodophis is also … Read more
In Depth Tethysaurus is a primitive (basal) mosasaur that is considered to be related to Russelosaurus from North America and Yaguarasaurus from South America. Like these other two mosasaurs, Tethysaurus has a mixture of both primitive and advanced features that make it a primitive relative to other later mosasaur groups, although not as primitive as … Read more
In Depth In 1937 a fossil collector named Allan Bennison discovered mosasaur fossils in California’s Mount Diablo Range. These fossils were first described by Charles Camp in 1942 and published as Kolposaurus; however this name is actually preoccupied as a synonym for Nothosaurus, hence the naming revision to Plotosaurus in 1951. The original fossils were … Read more
In Depth Described from a well preserved skull, Barbatteius is a genus of teiid lizard that lived in Romania during the late Cretaceous. Further Reading - A new teiid lizard from the Late Cretaceous of the Hateg Basin, Romania and its � phylogenetic and palaeobiogeographical relationships. - Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. - M. Venczel & … Read more
In Depth The fairly high number of Leptochamops specimens so far found suggests that this would have been a fairly common little lizard in the late Cretaceous ecosystems of North America. Like with many modern lizard today, Leptochamops was probably a fairly small predator of invertebrates while it tried to keep out of the predatory … Read more
In Depth What might have otherwise been an unassuming little lizard, has now become famous worldwide for being named after the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama. The full name Obamadon which means ‘Obama tooth’ is a reference to Barack Obama’s smile. Fossils of Obamadon were originally assigned to Leptochamops denticulatus, but a … Read more