In Depth Fossil teeth of Igdamanosaurus were originally described as a species of the mosasaur Globidens by Zdansky in 1935, a later study of a partial jaw from Niger by Lingham-Soliar in 1991 saw the remains raised to the status of a distinct genus. Additionally Igdamanosaurus is now classed within the Plioplatecarpinae due to the … Read more
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 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 The sheer expanse of Plioplatecarpus remains in both Europe and North America indicate that this mosasaur was a predator that frequented the open ocean, and was not restricted to just hunting in shallow waters like some smaller mosasaurs have been presumed to have been. Additionally Plioplatecarpus had proportionately larger eyes than other mosasaurs … Read more
In Depth Although first discovered in Angola, it’s entirely plausible that Angolasaurus had a wider distribution since it was a marine creature and had the freedom of the ocean to travel. As a plioplatecarpine mosasaur, Angolasaurus is considered to be related to Platecarpus, Plioplatecarpus and Selmasaurus amongst others. Further Reading – O Neocretacio e o … Read more
In Depth Plesioplatecarpus was initially named as a species of the genus Clidastes by Edward Drinker Cope back in 1874 during a period dubbed the ‘bone wars’. Later this species was assigned to the genus Platecarpus, before finally being named as an independent genus in 2011. Although different to Platecarpus, Plesioplatecarpus is still recognised as … Read more