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Mosasauridae
Sign in to saveAlso known as Mosasaur family, Mosasaurid, Mosasaurids, Mosasaur, Mosasaurs, Mosasaurian
Mosasaurs (from Latin Mosa meaning the 'Meuse', and Greek '''' meaning 'lizard') are an extinct group of large aquatic reptiles within the family Mosasauridae that lived during the Late Cretaceous. Their first fossil remains were discovered in a limestone quarry at Maastricht on the Meuse in 1764. They belong to the order Squamata, which includes lizards and snakes.
~22 min read
Encyclopedic overview
17 sectionsContents
- Description
- Paleobiology
- Soft tissue
- Metabolism
- Coloration
- Teeth
- Ontogeny and growth
- Possible eggs
- Environment
- Discovery
- Classification
- Relationship with modern squamates
- Lower classifications
- Phylogeny
- Distribution
- References
- External links
Mosasaurs (from Latin Mosa meaning the 'Meuse', and Greek '''' meaning 'lizard') are an extinct group of large aquatic reptiles within the family Mosasauridae that lived during the Late Cretaceous. Their first fossil remains were discovered in a limestone quarry at Maastricht on the Meuse in 1764. They belong to the order Squamata, which includes lizards and snakes.
During the last 20 million years of the Cretaceous period (Turonian–Maastrichtian ages), with the extinction of the ichthyosaurs and pliosaurs, mosasaurids became the dominant marine predators. They themselves became extinct as a result of the K-Pg event at the end of the Cretaceous period, about 66 million years ago.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Mosasauridae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.