Mosasaurinae

Mosasaurines; Temporal range: Late Cretaceous,
	Mounted skeleton of Mosasaurus conodon, Minnesota Science Museum
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Superfamily:	†Mosasauroidea
Family:	†Mosasauridae
Subfamily:	†Mosasaurinae; Gervais, 1853
Type species
	†Mosasaurus hoffmannii; Mantell, 1829
Genera
	†Amphekepubis[1]; †Dallasaurus; †Clidastes; †Gnathomortis; †Goronyosaurus?; †Kourisodon; †Liodon; †Plesiotylosaurus; †Prognathodon; †Stelladens; †Thalassotitan; †Globidensini †Globidens; †Carinodens; †Harranasaurus[2]; †Igdamanosaurus; †Xenodens; ; †Mosasaurini †Moanasaurus; †Eremiasaurus; †Plotosaurus; †Mosasaurus; ;

The Mosasaurinae are a subfamily of mosasaurs, a diverse group of Late Cretaceous marine squamates. Members of the subfamily are informally and collectively known as "mosasaurines" and their fossils have been recovered from every continent except for South America.[3]

The lineage first appears in the Turonian and thrived until the K-Pg mass extinction at the end of the Maastrichtian. They ranged in size from some of the smallest known mosasaurs (Carinodens, 3–3.5 meters), to medium-sized taxa (Clidastes, 6+ meters), to the largest of the mosasaurs (Mosasaurus hoffmannii) potentially reaching about 13 m in length. Many genera of mosasaurines were either piscivorous or generalists, preying on fish and other marine reptiles, but one lineage, the Globidensini, evolved specialized crushing teeth, adapting to a diet of ammonites and/or marine turtles.

Though represented by relatively small forms throughout the Turonian and Santonian, such as Clidastes, the lineage diversified during the Campanian and had by the Maastrichtian grown into the most diverse and species-rich mosasaur subfamily.[4]

The etymology of the group derives from the genus Mosasaurus (Latin Mosa = "Meuse river" + Greek sauros = "lizard").

Description

Skeleton of Clidastes liodontus mounted as if pursuing a fossil sea turtle

Russell (1967, pp. 123–124)[5] defined the Mosasaurinae as differing from all other mosasaurs as follows: "Small rostrum present or absent anterior to premaxillary teeth. Fourteen or more teeth present in dentary and maxilla. Cranial nerves X, XI, and XII leave lateral wall of opisthotic through two foramina. No canal or groove in floor of basioccipital or basisphenoid for basilar artery. Suprastapedial process of quadrate distally expanded. Dorsal edge of surangular thin lamina of bone rising anteriorly to posterior surface of coronoid...At least 31, usually 42–45 presacral vertebrae present. Length of presacral series exceeds that of postsacral, neural spines of posterior caudal vertebrae elongated to form distinct fin. Appendicular elements with smoothly finished articular surfaces, tarsus and carpus well ossified." In his 1997 revision of the phylogeny of the Mosasauroidea, Bell (pp. 293–332) retained the Mosasaurinae as a clade, though he reassigned Russell's tribe Prognathodontini to the Mosasaurinae and recognized a new tribe of mosasaurines, the Globidensini.[6][7]

The subfamily is generally recognised as containing two subdivisions, the tribes Globidensini (Globidens and its closest relatives) and Mosasaurini (Mosasaurus and its closest relatives). A third tribe, the Prognathodontini (Prognathodon and its closest relatives, such as Plesiotylosaurus), is also used on occasion.[5] "Clidastini" or the adjective "clidastine" is also used sometimes, but generally refers to an adaptive grade close to and containing the genus Clidastes, rather than an actual clade.[8]

Relationships

Cladogram of the Mosasaurinae modified from Longrich et al., 2022:[9]

	Globidens simplex

	Globidens schumani

	Globidens phosphaticus

	Prognathodon rapax (=Ancylocentrum hungerfordi)

	Globidens alambamensis

	Globidens dakotensis

Prognathodontini

Gnathomortis

Prognathodon overtoni

Prognathodon saturator

	Thalassotitan atrox

	Prognathodon currii

Prognathodon giganteus

	Prognathodon lutugini

	Prognathodon solvayi

Mosasaurini

	Moanasaurus

	Mosasaurus mokoroa

	Mosasaurus conodon

	Plesiotylosaurus

	Plotosaurus

Mosasaurus missouriensis

Mosasaurus lemonnieri

	Mosasaurus hoffmannii

	Mosasaurus beaugei

Mosasaurus maximus

	Liodon

	Mosasaurus sp. (MGGC 21876)

"Magahouanga mosasaurine"

	Carinodens

	Xenodens

References

DeBraga, Michael; Carroll, Robert L. (1993), Hecht, Max K.; MacIntyre, Ross J.; Clegg, Michael T. (eds.), "The Origin of Mosasaurs As a Model of Macroevolutionary Patterns and Processes", Evolutionary Biology, Boston, MA: Springer US, pp. 245–322, doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-2878-4_7, ISBN 978-1-4615-2878-4, retrieved 2022-07-13
Kaddumi, Hani F. (2009). "A new durophagous mosasaur (Squamata: Mosasauridae) from the Maastrichtian Muwaqqar Chalk Marl Formation of the Harrana Fauna". Fossils of the Harrana Fauna and the Adjacent Areas. Amman: Eternal River Museum of Natural History. pp. 36–48. OCLC 709582892.
"Fossilworks: Mosasaurinae". fossilworks.org. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
Polcyn, Michael J.; Jacobs, Louis L.; Araújo, Ricardo; Schulp, Anne S.; Mateus, Octávio (2014-04-15). "Physical drivers of mosasaur evolution". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. Physical drivers in the evolution of marine tetrapods. 400: 17–27. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.05.018.
Russell, Dale. A. (6 November 1967). "Systematics and Morphology of American Mosasaurs" (PDF). Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History (Yale University).
Bell, G. L. Jr., 1997. A phylogenetic revision of North American and Adriatic Mosasauroidea. pp. 293–332 In Callaway J. M. and E. L Nicholls, (eds.), Ancient Marine Reptiles, Academic Press, 501 pp.
Gervais, P. 1853. Observations relatives aux reptiles fossiles de France. Acad. Sci. Paris Compt. Rendus 36:374–377, 470–474.
Caldwell, Michael; Konishi, Takuya (2007). "Taxonomic re-assignment of the first-known mosasaur specimen from Japan, and a discussion of circum-pacific mosasaur paleobiogeography". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 27 (2): 517–520. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[517:trotfm]2.0.co;2.
Nicholas R. Longrich; Nour-Eddine Jalil; Fatima Khaldoune; Oussama Khadiri Yazami; Xabier Pereda-Suberbiola; Nathalie Bardet (2022). "Thalassotitan atrox, a giant predatory mosasaurid (Squamata) from the Upper Maastrichtian Phosphates of Morocco". Cretaceous Research. 140: 105315. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105315. ISSN 0195-6671. S2CID 251821884.

Mosasaurinae

Description

Relationships

References

Further reading