Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T04:47:14.571Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sharks eating mosasaurs, dead or alive?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2016

B.M. Rothschild ,
L.D. Martin  and
A.S. Schulp
B.M. Rothschild*
Affiliation:
Arthritis Center of Northeast Ohio, 5500 Market Street, Suite 199, Youngstown, Ohio 44512, USA Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Rootstown, Ohio; Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA Kansas Museum of Natural History, Dyche Hall, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 60645, USA
L.D. Martin
Affiliation:
Kansas Museum of Natural History, Dyche Hall, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 60645, USA
A.S. Schulp
Affiliation:
Natuurhistorisch Museum Maastricht, de Bosquetplein 6, NL-6211 KJ Maastricht, the Netherlands Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands
*
* Corresponding author. Email: bmr@neoucom.edu
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Shark bite marks on mosasaur bones abound in the fossil record. Here we review examples from Kansas (USA) and the Maastrichtian type area (SE Netherlands, NE Belgium), and discuss whether they represent scavenging and/or predation. Some bite marks are most likely the result of scavenging. On the other hand, evidence of healing and the presence of a shark tooth in an infected abscess confirm that sharks also actively hunted living mosasaurs.

Keywords

MosasaursPlatecarpusPrognathodonTylosaurussharksscavengingpredation
Type
Research Article
Information
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences , Volume 84 , Special Issue 3: Proceedings of the First Mosasaur Meeting , September 2005 , pp. 335 - 340
Copyright
Copyright © Stichting Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 2005

References

Bardack, D., 1965. Localities of fossil vertebrates obtained from the Niobrara Formation (Cretaceous) of Kansas. University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History 17: 1–14.Google Scholar
Bardet, N., Jagt, J.W.M., Kuypers, M.M.M. & Dortangs, R.W., 1998. Shark tooth marks on a vertebra of the mosasaur Plioplatecarpus marshi from the Late Maastrichtian of Belgium. Publicaties van het Natuurhistorisch Genootschap in Limburg 41: 52–55.Google Scholar
Bell, G.L. Jr., 1997. Mosasauridae. In: Callaway, J.M. & Nicholls, E.L. (eds): Ancient marine reptiles. Academic Press (San Diego): 281–292.Google Scholar
Bell, G.L. Jr. & Martin, J.E., 1995. Direct evidence of aggressive intraspecific competition in Mosasaurus conodon (Mosasauridae: Squamata). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 15 (Suppl. to 3): 18A.Google Scholar
Bjork, P.R., 1981. Food habits of mosasaurs from the Pierre Shale of South Dakota. GSA, Abstracts with Program (Rocky Mountain Section, Rapid City) 13: 191.Google Scholar
Buck, J.D., Sporte, S. & Gadbaw, J.J. Jr., 1984. Bacteriology of the teeth from a great white shark: potential medical implications for shark bite victims. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 20: 849–851.Google Scholar
Connole, M.D., 1990. Review of animal mycoses in Australia. Mycopathologia 111: 133–164.Google Scholar
Corrado, C.A., Wilhelm, D.A., Shimada, K. & Everhart, M.J., 2003. A new skeleton of the Late Cretaceous lamniform shark, Cretoxyrhina mantelli, from western Kansas. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 23 (Suppl. to 3): 43A.Google Scholar
Dollo, L., 1913. Globidens Fraasi, mosasaurien mylodonte nouveau du Maestrichtien (Crétacé supérieur) du Limbourg, et l’éthologie de la nutrition chez les mosasauriens. Archives de Biologie 28: 609–626.Google Scholar
Dollo, L., 1917. Les vertébrés vivants et fossiles. Guide du Touring Club de Belgique 2: 126–161.Google Scholar
Dortangs, R.W., Schulp, A.S., Mulder, E.W.A., Jagt, J.W.M., Peeters, H.H.G. & de Graaf, D.Th., 2002. A large new mosasaur from the Upper Cretaceous of The Netherlands. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 81: 1–8.Google Scholar
Everhart, M.J., 1999. Evidence of feeding on mosasaurs by the Late Cretaceous lamniform shark, Cretoxyrhina mantelli. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 17 (Suppl. to 3): 43A, 44A.Google Scholar
Everhart, M.J., 2000. Gastroliths associated with plesiosaur remains in the Sharon Springs Member of the Pierre Shale (Late Cretaceous), Western Kansas. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Sciences 103: 58–69.Google Scholar
Everhart, M.J., 2003. First records of plesiosaur remains in the lower Smoky Hill Chalk Member (Upper Coniacian) of the Niobrara Formation in western Kansas. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Sciences 106: 139–148.Google Scholar
Everhart, M.J., 2004a. Plesiosaurs as the food of mosasaurs; new data on the stomach contents of a Tylosaurus proriger (Squamata; Mosasauridae) from the Niobrara Formation of western Kansas. The Mosasaur 7: 41–46.Google Scholar
Everhart, M.J., 2004b. Late Cretaceous interaction between predators and prey. Evidence of feeding by two species of shark on a mosasaur. PalArch 1: 1–6.Google Scholar
Hattin, D.E., 1982. Stratigraphy and depositional environment of the Smoky Hill Chalk Member, Niobrara Chalk (Upper Cretaceous) of the type area, western Kansas. Kansas Geological Survey Bulletin 225: 1–108.Google Scholar
Kass, M.S., 1999. Prognathodon stadtmani(Mosasauridae): A new species from the Mancos Shale (Lower Campanian) of Western Colorado. Utah Geological Survey, Miscellaneous Publications 99: 275–294.Google Scholar
Lingham-Soliar, T., 1992. The tylosaurine mosasaurs (Reptilia, Mosasauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous of Europe and Africa. Bulletin de l’Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, Sciences de la Terre 62: 171–194.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 B347: 155–180.Google Scholar
Machalski, M., 1999. Mosasaur bites or punctured limpet home scars? Acta Paleontologica Polonica 44: 347, 348.Google Scholar
Martin, J.E. & Bjork, P.P., 1987. Gastric residues associated with a mosasaur from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) Pierre Shale in South Dakota. In: Martin, J.E. & Ostrander, G.E. (eds): Papers in vertebrate paleontology in honor of Morton Green. Dakoterra 3: 68–72.Google Scholar
Massare, J.A., 1987. Tooth morphology and prey preference of Mesozoic marine reptiles. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 7: 121–137.Google Scholar
Massare, J.A., 1997. Faunas, behaviour, and evolution. Introduction. In: Callaway, J.M. & Nicholls, E.L. (eds): Ancient marine reptiles. Academic Press (New York/London): 401–421.Google Scholar
Mudge, B.F., 1877. Notes on the Tertiary and Cretaceous periods of Kansas. In: Ninth Annual Report, United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories (Hayden) 1875, Part I (Geology): 277–294.Google Scholar
Mulder, E.W.A., 2001. Co-ossified vertebrae of mosasaurs and cetaceans: implications for the mode of locomotion of extinct marine reptiles. Paleobiology 27: 724–734.Google Scholar
Mulder, E.W.A., 2003. Comparative osteology, palaeoecology and systematics of the Late Cretaceous turtle Allopleuron hofmanni (Gray 1831) from the Maastrichtian type area. Publicaties van het Natuurhistorisch Genootschap in Limburg 44: 23–92.Google Scholar
Resnick, D., 2002. Diagnosis of bone and joint disorders (4th ed.). W.B. Saunders (Philadelphia): 5472 pp.Google Scholar
Rothschild, B.M. & Martin, L.D., 1993. Paleopathology: disease in the fossil record. CRC Press (London): 386 pp.Google Scholar
Russell, D.A., 1967. Systematics and morphology of American mosasaurs. Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University 23: 1–241.Google Scholar
Schwimmer, D.R., Stewart, J.D. & Williams, G.D., 1997. Scavenging by sharks of the genus Squalicorax in the Late Cretaceous of North America. Palaios 12: 71–83.Google Scholar
Shimada, K., 1997. Paleoecological relationships of the Late Cretaceous lamniform shark, Cretoxyrhina mantelli (Agassiz). Journal of Paleontology 71: 926–933.Google Scholar
Shimada, K. & Hooks, G.E. III, 2004. Shark-bitten protostegid turtles from the Upper Cretaceous Mooreville Chalk, Alabama. Journal of Paleontology 78: 205–210.Google Scholar
Siverson, M., 1992. Biology, dental morphology and taxonomy of lamniform sharks from the Campanian of the Kristianstad Basin, Sweden. Palaeontology 35: 519–554.Google Scholar
Stewart, J.D., Bennett, S.C. & Zakrzewski, R.J., 1990. Road log from Lawrence to the type area of the Niobara Chalk - October 9 - 10, 1990. In: Bennett, S.C. (ed.): Niobrara Chalk Excursion Guidebook, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Museum of Natural History and Kansas Geological Survey (Lawrence, Kansas): 3–12.Google Scholar
Stewart, J.D., 1990. Niobrara Formation vertebrate stratigraphy. In: Bennett, S.C. (ed.): Niobrara Chalk Excursion Guidebook, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Museum of Natural History and Kansas Geological Survey (Lawrence, Kansas): 19–30.Google Scholar
Tsujita, C.J. & Westermann, G.E.G., 2001. Were limpets or mosasaurs responsible for the perforations in the ammonite Placenticeras? Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 169: 245–270.Google Scholar
Vonhof, H.B. & Smit, J., 1996. Strontium-isotope stratigraphy of the type Maastrichtian and the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary in the Maastricht area (SE Netherlands). In: Brinkhuis, H. & Smit, J. (eds): The Geulhemmerberg Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary section (Maastrichtian type area, SE Netherlands). Geologie en Mijnbouw 75: 275–282.Google Scholar
Williston, S.W., 1898. Mosasaurs. The University Geological Survey of Kansas 4, 83–221.Google Scholar
Williston, S.W., 1914. Water reptiles of the past and present. Chicago University Press (Chicago): 251 pp.Google Scholar