Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T08:31:32.333Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Rediagnosis and redescription of Mosasaurus hoffmannii (Squamata: Mosasauridae) and an assessment of species assigned to the genus Mosasaurus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2016

HALLIE P. STREET  and
MICHAEL W. CALDWELL
HALLIE P. STREET*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada
MICHAEL W. CALDWELL
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada
*
†Author for correspondence: hallie.street@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The large Late Cretaceous marine reptile Mosasaurus has remained poorly defined, in part owing to the unorthodox (by today's nomenclatural standards) manner in which the name was erected. The lack of a diagnosis accompanying the first use of either the genus or species names allowed the genus to become a catchall taxon, and subsequent diagnoses did little to refine the concept of Mosasaurus. We herein present emended diagnoses for both Mosasaurus and the type species M. hoffmannii, based solely on personal examination of the holotype, and a description of the type species based on personal examination of many specimens. Mosasaurus exhibits a premaxilla with a short, conical edentulous rostrum, a maxilla with little to no dorsal excavation for the external naris, posteromedial processes of the frontal that deeply invade the parietal, a quadrate taller than long with a short suprastapedial process and the stapedial pit dorsal to the mid-height of the shaft, an angular that is laterally visible for only a short length of the post-dentary unit, a very tall surangular, a humerus with the postglenoid process robust and offset and a distal width greater than the length, and a pubis with an anteriorly projecting tubercle. M. hoffmannii is distinguished from other species assignable to the genus by the anteroventral corner formed on the tympanic rim of the quadrate, the asymmetric carinae of the anterior marginal teeth dividing the tooth circumference into short labial and long lingual segments, and the proximal and distal expansion of the femur.

Keywords

anatomydescriptionemended diagnosisLate Cretaceousmosasaur
Type
Original Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 154 , Issue 3 , May 2017 , pp. 521 - 557
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arambourg, C. 1952. Les vertébrés fossiles des gisements de phosphates (Maroc – Algérie – Tunisie). Notes et Mémoires du Service Géologique du Maroc 92, 1–372.Google Scholar
Bardet, N. 1990. Première mention du genre Hainosaurus (Squamata, Mosasauridae) en France. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Série II 311, 751–6.Google Scholar
Bardet, N. 2012a. The mosasaur collections of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle of Paris. Bulletin de la Société géologique de France 183, 35–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bardet, N. 2012b. Maastrichtian marine reptiles of the Mediterranean Tethys: a palaeobiogeographical approach. Bulletin de la Société géologique de France 183, 573–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bardet, N., Falconnet, J., Fischer, V., Houssaye, A., Jouve, S., Pereda Suberbiola, X., Pérez-García, A., Rage, J.-C. & Vincent, P. 2014. Mesozoic marine reptile palaeobiogeography in response to drifting plates. Gondwana Research 26, 869–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bardet, N. & Jagt, W. M. 1996. Mosasaurus hoffmanni, le “Grand animal fossil des carriers de Maestricht”: deux siècles d'histoire. Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle Paris 4e serie, 18, Section C no4, 569–93.Google Scholar
Bardet, N., Pereda Suberbiola, X., Larochène, M., Bouyahyaoui, F., Bouya, B. & Amaghzaz, M. 2004. Mosasaurus beaugei Arambourg, 1952 (Squamata, Mosasauridae) from the Late Cretaceous phosphates of Morocco. Geobios 37, 315–24.Google Scholar
Bell, G. L. Jr. 1997. A phylogenetic revision of North American and Adriatic Mosasauroidea. In Ancient Marine Reptiles (eds Callaway, J. M. & Nicholls, E. L.), pp. 293–332. San Diego: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronn, H. G. 1838. Lethaea Geognostica. Erster Band. Stuttgart: E. Schweizerbart's Verlagshandlung, 768 pp.Google Scholar
Buc'Hoz, P. J. 1782. Les dons Merveilleux et Diversement Coloriés de la Nature dans le Règne Minéral, ou Collection de Minéraux Précieusement Coloriés, pour Servir à l'Intelligence de l'Histoire Naturelle et Oeconomique des Trois Règnes. Paris: Chez l'auteur, 100 pp.Google Scholar
Caldwell, M. W. & Palci, A. 2007. A new basal mosasauroid from the Cenomanian (U. Cretaceous) of Slovenia with a review of mosasauroid phylogeny and evolution. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27, 863–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Camp, C. L. 1942. California Mosasaurs. Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 51 pp.Google Scholar
Camper, P. 1786. Conjectures relative to the petrifactions found in St. Peter's Mountain, near Maestricht. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 76, 443–56.Google Scholar
Camper, A. G. 1800. Sur les ossemens fossiles de la montagne de St. Pierre, à Maëstricht. Journal de Physique, de Chimie et d'Histoire Naturelle 51, 278–91.Google Scholar
Camper, A. G. 1812. Mémoires sur quelques parites moins connues du squelette des sauriens fossiles de Maestricht. Annales du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle 19, 215–41.Google Scholar
Charlesworth, E. 1846. On the occurrence of the Mosasaurus in the Essex Chalk, and on the discovery of flint within the pulp-cavities of its teeth. British Association for the Advancement of Sciences 1845, 60.Google Scholar
Conybeare, W. D. 1822. Mosasaurus.—The saurus of the Meuse, the Maestricht animal of Cuvier. In An Introduction to the Study of Fossil Organic Remains (ed. Parkinson, J.), pp. 298. London: Sherwood, Neely and Jones, and W. Phillips.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1868. Remarks on Clidastes iguanavus, Nectoportheus validus, and Elasmosaurus . Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences 20, 181.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1869. On the reptilian orders Pythonomorpha and Streptosauria. Proceedings of the Society of Natural History 12, 250–66.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1870. Synopsis of the extinct Batrachia, Reptilia, and Aves of North America. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society Part 2, 106–235.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1881. A new species of Clidastes from New Jersey. American Naturalist 15, 587–8.Google Scholar
Cuvier, G. 1808. Sur le grand animal fossile des carrières de Maestricht. Annales du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle 12, 145–76.Google Scholar
Cuvier, G. 1829. Le Règne Animal Distribué d'après son Organization, pour Servir de Base a l'Histoire Naturelle des Animaux et d'Introduction a l'Anatomie Comperée. Volume 2. 2nd edition. Paris: Déterville Libraire, 406 pp.Google Scholar
Dollo, L. 1882. Note sur l'ostéologie des Mosasauridae. Bulletin du Museum d'histoire Naturelle de Belgique 1, 55–80.Google Scholar
Dollo, L. 1889. Première note sur les mosasaurs de Mesvin. Bulletin de la Société belge de Géologie, de Paléontologie et d'Hydrologie 3, 271–304.Google Scholar
Dollo, L. 1904. Les mosasauriens de la Belgique. Bulletin de la Société belge de Géologie, de Paléontologie et d'Hydrologie 18, 207–16.Google Scholar
Dollo, L. 1924. Globidens alabamaensis, mosasaurien américain retrouvé dans le Craie d'Obourg (Sénonien supériuer) du Hainaut, et les mosasaurs de la Belgique en general. Archives de Biologie 34, 167–213.Google Scholar
Dortangs, R. W., Schulp, A. S., Mulder, E. W. A., Jagt, J. W. M., Peeters, H. H. G. & De Graaf, D. T. 2002. A large new mosasaur from the Upper Cretaceous of The Netherlands. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 81, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faujas de Saint-Fond, B. 1799. Histoire Naturelle de la Montagne de Saint-Pierre de Maëstricht. Paris: J. Jansen, 263 pp.Google Scholar
Gervais, P. 1848–1852. Zoologie et Paléontologie Françaises (Animaux Vertébrés), ou Nouvelles Recherches sur les Animaux Vivants et Fossiles de la France. First edition. Paris: Libraire Arthus Bertrand, 271 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harlan, R. 1834. Notice of the discovery of the remains of the Ichthyosaurus in Missouri, N. A. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series 4, 405–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harlan, R. 1839a. Notice of the discovery of Basilosaurus and Batrachiosaurus . Proceedings of the Geological Society of London 3, 23–4.Google Scholar
Harlan, R. 1839b. Letter regarding Basilosaurus and Batrachiotherium . Bulletin de la Société géologique de France 1° serie 10, 89–90.Google Scholar
Harrell, T. L. & Martin, J. E. 2015. A mosasaur from the Maastrichtian Fox Hills formation of the northern Western Interior Seaway of the United States and the synonymy of Mosasaurus maximus with Mosasaurus hoffmanni (Reptilia: Mosasauridae). Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 94, 23–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holl, F. 1829. Handbuch der Petrefactenkunde. Dresden: P. G. Hilschersche Buchhandlung 232 pp.Google Scholar
Ikejiri, T. & Lucas, S. G. 2015. Osteology and taxonomy of Mosasaurus conodon Cope 1881 from the Late Cretaceous of North America. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 94, 39–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Konishi, T., Brinkman, D., Massare, J. A. & Caldwell, M. W. 2011. New exceptional specimens of Prognathodon overtoni (Squamata, Mosasauridae) from the upper Campanian of Alberta, Canada, and the systematics and ecology of the genus. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 31, 1026–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Konishi, T. & Caldwell, M. W. 2011. Two new plioplatecarpine (Squamata, Mosasauridae) genera from the Upper Cretaceous of North America, and a global phylogenetic analysis of plioplatecarpines. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 31, 754–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Konishi, T., Newbrey, M. & Caldwell, M. W. 2014. A small, exquisitely preserved specimen of Mosasaurus missouriensis (Squamata: Mosasauridae) from the upper Campanian of the Bearpaw Formation, western Canada and the first stomach contents for the genus. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 34, 802–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuypers, M. M. M., Jagt, J. W. M., Peeters, H. H. G., De Graaf, D. T., Dortangs, R.W., Deckers, M. J. M., Eysermans, D., Janssen, M. J. & Arpot, L. 1998. Laat-kretaceische mosasauriers uit Luik-Limburg: nieuew vondsten leiden tot nieuwe inzichten. Publicaties van het Natuurhistorisch Gentootschap in Limburg 41, 5–47.Google Scholar
LeBlanc, A. R. H., Caldwell, M. W. & Bardet, N. 2012. A new mosasaurine from the Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) Phosphates of Morocco and its implications for mosasaurine systematics. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32, 82–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LeBlanc, A. R. H., Caldwell, M. W. & Lindgren, J. 2013. Aquatic adaptation, cranial kinesis, and the skull of the mosasaurine mosasaur Plotosaurus bennisoni . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 33, 349-62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leidy, J. 1856. Notices of the extinct vertebrated animals discovered by Prof. E. Emmons. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences 8, 255–6.Google Scholar
Leidy, J. 1861. Remarks on remains of some extinct Vertebrata in the territory of Nebraska. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 7, 10–11.Google Scholar
Leidy, J. 1865. Memoir of the extinct reptiles of the Cretaceous formations of the United States. Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge 14 (6), 1–165.Google Scholar
Lindgren, J. 2005. The first record of Hainosaurus (Reptilia: Mosasauridae) from Sweden. Journal of Paleontology 76, 1157–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindgren, J. & Siverson, M. 2002. Tylosaurus ivoensis: a giant mosasaur from the early Campanian of Sweden. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 93, 73–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lingham-Soliar, T. 1991. Mosasaurs from the Upper Cretaceous of the Republic of Niger. Palaeontology 34, 653–70.Google Scholar
Lingham-Soliar, T. 1995. Anatomy and functional morphology of the largest marine reptile known, Mosasaurus hoffmanni (Mosasauridae, Reptilia) from the Upper Cretaceous, Upper Maastrichtian of the Netherlands. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 347, 155–72.Google Scholar
Lingham-Soliar, T. 2000. The mosasaur Mosasaurus lemonnieri (Lepidosauromorpha, Squamata) from the Upper Cretaceous of Belgium and The Netherlands. Paleontological Journal 34 (Suppl), S225–37.Google Scholar
Lingham-Soliar, T. & Nolf, D. 1989. The mosasaur Prognathodon from the Upper Cretaceous of Belgium (Reptilia, Mosasauridae). Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique 59, 137–90.Google Scholar
Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis. Tomus I. Editio Decima, Reformata. Stockholm: Laurentii Salvii, 824 pp.Google Scholar
Mantell, G. A. 1829. A tabular arrangement of the organic remains of the county of Sussex. Transactions of the Geological Society, Second Series 3, 201–16.Google Scholar
Meijer, A. W. F. 1983. Der vondst van een onderkaaksbeen van een onbekende Mosasauriër (Reptilia, Mosasauridae) in de Sibbergroeve. Natuurhistorisch Maandblad Maastricht 72, 269–71.Google Scholar
Meyer, H. von. 1832. Palaeologica zur Geschichte der Erde und ihrer Geschöpfe. Frankfurt: S. Schmerber, 560 pp.Google Scholar
Mulder, E. W. A. 1999. Transatlantic latest Cretaceous mosasaurs (Reptilia, Lacertilia) from the Maastrichtian type area and New Jersey. Geologie en Mijnbouw 78, 281–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oppel, M. 1811. Die Ordnungen, Familien, und Gattungen der Reptilien als Prodrom Einer Naturgeschichte Derselben. Munich: Joseph Lindauer, 86 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owen, R. 1840–1845. Odontography. London: H. Baillière, 762 pp.Google Scholar
Owen, R. 1849. A History of British Fossil Reptiles Volume 1. London: Cassel and Company Limited, 667 pp.Google Scholar
Parkinson, J. 1822. Outlines of Oryctology: An Introduction to the Study of Fossil Organic Remains; Especially of Those Found in the British Strata: Intended to Aid the Student in His Inquiries Respecting the Nature of Fossils and Their Connection with the Formation of the Earth. London: Sherwood, Neely and Jones, and W. Phillips, 346 pp.Google Scholar
Persson, P. O. 1959. Reptiles from the Senonian of Scania. Arkiv for Kemi Mineralogi och Geologi 2, 431–80.Google Scholar
Persson, P. O. 1963. Studies on Mesozoic marine reptile faunas with particular regard to the Plesiosauria. Publications from the Institutes of Mineralogy, Paleontology, and Quaternary Geology, University of Lund, Sweden 118, 1–15.Google Scholar
Pieters, F. J. M., Rompen, P. G. W., Jagt, J. W. M. & Bardet, N. 2012. A new look at Faujas de Saint-Fond's fantastic story on the provenance and acquisition of the type specimen of Mosasaurus hoffmanni Mantell, 1829. Bulletin de la Societé National de Geologique de France 183, 55–65.Google Scholar
Russell, D. A. 1967. Systematics and morphology of American mosasaurs. Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 23, 241 pp.Google Scholar
Sakurai, K., Chitoku, T. & Shibuya, N. 1999. A new species of Mosasaurus (Reptilia, Mosasauridae) from Hobetsu, Hokkaido, Japan. Bulletin of the Hobetsu Museum 15, 53–66.Google Scholar
Sömmering, S. T. von. 1816. Ueber die Lacerta gigantean der Vorwelt. Denkschriften der Königlichen Akademie der Wisseschaften zu Münch 6, 37–59.Google Scholar
Street, H. P. & Caldwell, M. W. 2014. Reassignment of Turonian mosasaur material from the ‘Middle Chalk’ (England, U.K.), and the status of Mosasaurus gracilis Owen, 1849. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 34, 1072–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suzuki, S. 1985. A new species of Mosasaurus (Reptilia, Squamata) from the Upper Cretaceous Hakobuchi Group in Central Hokkaido, Japan. In Evolution and Adaptation of Marine Vertebrates (eds Goto, M., Takahashi, M., Kimura, M. & Horikawa, H.), pp 45–66. Association for Geological Collaboration in Japan, Monograph no. 30.Google Scholar
Ubaghs, C. 1879. Description de quelques grand vertébrés de la Craie Supérieure de Maastricht. Description Géologique et Paléontologique du sol du Limbourg 1879, 238–49.Google Scholar
Van Marum, M. 1790. Beschryving der beenderen van den kop van eenen visch, gevonden in den St. Pietersberg by Maastricht, en geplaatst in Teylers Museum. Verhandelingen van Teylers Tweede Genootschap 8, 383–9.Google Scholar
Welles, S. P. & Gregg, D. R. 1971. Late Cretaceous marine reptiles of New Zealand. Records of the Canterbury Museum 9, 1–111.Google Scholar
Wiffen, J. 1990. New mosasaurs (Reptilia; Family Mosasauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous of North Island, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 33, 67–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, M. T. & de Andrade, M. B. 2009. What is Geosaurus? Redescription of Geosaurus giganteus (Thalattosuchia: Metriorhynchidae) from the Upper Jurassic of Bayern, Germany. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 157, 551–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar