About the Book
Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 31. Chapters: Mosasaurs, List of mosasaurs, Tylosaurus, Mosasaurus, Platecarpus, Tylosaurinae, Acteosaurus, Dallasaurus, Plioplatecarpinae, Halisaurinae, Russellosaurus, Eonatator, Globidens, Adriosaurus, Mosasaurinae, Plotosaurus, Selmasaurus, Judeasaurus, Kaganaias, Taniwhasaurus, Xianglong, Estesia, Clidastes, Plioplatecarpus, Hainosaurus, Carinodens, Prognathodon, Dalinghosaurus, Brasiliguana, Cretaceogekko, Haasiasaurus, Halisaurus, Pontosaurus, Liodon, Palaeosaniwa, Moanasaurus, Gobiderma, Aigialosaurus, Kourisodon, Socognathus, Dolichosaurus, Gangiguana, Aigialosauridae, Igdamanosaurus, Plesiotylosaurus, Pristiguana, Vallecillosaurus, Yabeinosaurus, Tethysaurus, Yaguarasaurus, Eidolosaurus, Carsosaurus, Ectenosaurus, Komensaurus, Mesoleptos, Kuwajimalla, Isodontosaurus, Goronyosaurus, Amphekepubis, Mosasauroidea, Amphorosteus, Angolasaurus, Pluridens. Excerpt: Mosasaurs (from Latin Mosa meaning the 'Meuse river', and Greek sauros meaning 'lizard') are large extinct marine lizards. The first fossil remains were discovered in a limestone quarry at Maastricht on the Meuse in 1764. Mosasaurs are now considered to be the closest relatives of snakes, due to cladistic analyses that have taken into account similarities in jaw and skull anatomies. Mosasaurs were varanoids closely related to terrestrial monitor lizards. They probably evolved from semi-aquatic squamates known as aigialosaurs, which were more similar in appearance to modern-day monitor lizards, in the Early Cretaceous. During the last 20 million years of the Cretaceous Period (Turonian-Maastrichtian), with the extinction of the ichthyosaurs and pliosaurs, mosasaurs became the dominant marine predators. Modern reconstruction of Platecarpus tympaniticus showing crescent-shaped tail fluke Tylosaurus proriger erroneously depicted with a dorsal crest, by Charles R. Knight, ...
