In Depth During the Cretaceous period much of Modern day Manitoba would have been submerged under the Western Interior Seaway, which is how the fossils of the mosasaur Latoplatecarpus made it so far inland. After the original material was prepared and described, some further remains that were once attributed to Plioplatecarpus were reassigned to Latoplatecarpus … Read more
In Depth Mosasaurs appear to have been some of the most common marine reptiles around New Zealand towards the end of the Cretaceous, and at up to twelve meters long, Moanasaurus was towards the larger end of the mosasaur size scale. Given its large size it’s a safe bet that Moanasaurus would have been a … Read more
In Depth 2010 saw the description of a new genus of madtsoiid snake called Menarana. Although initially described from Madagascan fossils, the team describing the new genus also stated that a Spanish species of the Madtsoiidae type genus Madtsoia actually represented a second species. This led to the creation of the Menarana type species Menarana … Read more
In Depth Though first described from a partial maxilla, the mosasaur Xenodens seems to have had very specialised teeth. These teeth are individually short and flattened into stout blade-like form, but when in the jaw, are tightly packed together to form what can only be described as a saw blade-like structure. Indeed, the type species … Read more
In Depth Pyrenasaurus is a little known lizard genus that lived in Western Europe during the Eocene. Further Reading - A New Miniaturized Lizard from the Late Eocene of France and Spain. - The Anatomical Record 297 (3): 505–15. - A. Bolet & M. Aug� - 2014.
In Depth Selmasaurus is unusual amongst mosasaurs because it has an akinetic skull, which means that its jaws were incapable of widening to swallow larger prey. This strongly suggests that Selmasaurus restricted itself to small prey species that were easily swallowed. This would infer behaviour similar to other plioplatecarpine mosasaurs such as Platecarpus and Plioplatecarpus … Read more
In Depth Research into Platecarpus has arguably advanced our understanding of the mosasaurs more than any other genera, part of this being down to the number of known Platecarpus fossils. Some of these specimens of Platecarpus are so well preserved that they actually reveal impression of soft tissues of body parts like the internal organs. … Read more
In Depth Although only known from a partial skull, Ovoo represents not only one of the smallest monitor lizards to ever live, but also one of the earliest appearances of a monitor lizard. Unfortunately because Ovoo is only known from an incomplete skull, it is very difficult to estimate the full body size of Ovoo … Read more
In Depth Eidolosaurus is a genus of mosasaur that lived during the late Cretaceous. Further Reading - Eidolosaurus und Pachyophis, Zwei neue Neocom-Reptilien. - Palaeontographica (55)97-154. - F. Nopcsa - 1923.
In Depth For over a hundred years Gigantophis was regarded as the largest known snake, a title that has since been handed to the even larger Titanoboa in 2009. Still even at the lower estimate of just over nine meters long Gigantophis is still bigger than the reticulated python which is thought to be the … Read more