The Mosasaur Thread

Galvasean

It looks like protein tissue from the Cretaceous mosasaur Prognathodon has been found.
I for one look forward to seeing the monster in Sea World

Swedish scientists detail their new mosasaur find. The researchers note that the earlier ancient protein extractions have been controversial, but note that their new research is backed up by several tests to corroborate the tissue's authenticity.

The researchers used infrared microspectoscopy, mass spectrometry, and a chemical analysis on the ancient sea-going predator's remains to make sure what they had found was not contamination from bacteria or other modern sources.

Read more here.

Rubecula

Does this mean that getting a sample of DNA is possible?

Alvin T. Grey

Imagine the possibilities of sequencing that??/?

You finally get to see if your classification of the amimal families was right, and what there closest living reletives are. That could make understanding what the creatures habits and behaviour was easier.

Now, if they could only find a sample of Rex...

Adam Khor

Alvin T. Grey wrote: »

Now, if they could only find a sample of Rex...

What ever happened to the soft tissue they found in a T-Rex leg bone?

Capt'n Midnight

Alvin T. Grey wrote: »

Imagine the possibilities of sequencing that??/?

You finally get to see if your classification of the amimal families was right, and what there closest living reletives are. That could make understanding what the creatures habits and behaviour was easier.

Now, if they could only find a sample of Rex...

Even if you dont have the DNA you could still sequence the protein and compare it to the proteins coded by known DNA sequences.

Galvasean

Adam Khor wrote: »

What ever happened to the soft tissue they found in a T-Rex leg bone?

As far as I know it's ongoing...
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=56732221

Alvin T. Grey

Adam Khor wrote: »

What ever happened to the soft tissue they found in a T-Rex leg bone?

It was tasty......:D

Adam Khor

They also swam like sharks, not eels, but this had already been revealed

http://www.livescience.com/17071-mosasaur-fossil-skin-locomotion.html

Galvasean

Guess that'll be the end of the undulating mosasaurs so.

Rubecula

A shark's skin supposedly helps it move more effortlessly through the water. (I am not sure this is true but it seems to be.) So if this is the case then other marine creatures that evolved a similar system is not beyond the bounds of possibility really.

Adam Khor

Rubecula wrote: »

A shark's skin supposedly helps it move more effortlessly through the water. (I am not sure this is true but it seems to be.) So if this is the case then other marine creatures that evolved a similar system is not beyond the bounds of possibility really.

Its actually to be expected. And yes, the denticles in a shark's skin help it move better underwater- I remember someone was designing a diver's suit that replicated a shark's skin. It allowed the divers/swimmers to move much faster than with normal suits!

Galvasean

Huh huh....



Denticles.

Adam Khor

And not only that; a freshwater mosasaur with legs. It could probably crawl on land.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/12/121219-sea-monster-new-species-freshwater-paleontology-science/

Kess73

The T-Rex of inland waterways :pac:

Rubecula

Kess73 wrote: »

The T-Rex of inland waterways :pac:

Oh no don't. Please don't ....

Another good find Adam, I bet one of them would keep herons from the fish pond.

Galvasean

Chalk up another transitional fossil.

Adam Khor

Rubecula wrote: »

Oh no don't. Please don't ....

Another good find Adam, I bet one of them would keep herons from the fish pond.

Would probably eat all the fish too XD

Adam Khor

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/ancient-ocean-predators-were-reptiles-swam-sharks-8C11120803

Also, apparently ichthyosaurs are from the Cambrian :pac:

Galvasean

Ichthyosaurs in the Cambrian? Now wouldn't that be something? They must be hanging out with Robin Hood!

Rubecula

See I knew Ichthyosaurs were totally awesome they even invented time machines, and perpetual motion mechanisms.

Rubecula

Just came across this on Nat Geo site

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/09/130910-mosasaur-sea-monster-reptile-tail-ocean-science/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=link_fb20130917news-ancientshark&utm_campaign=Content

Adam Khor

What, now you need to be registered to READ their articles?

Shame on you, Nat Geo. You used to be cool.

Galvasean

Working normally for me and I never registered?

Adam Khor

They were insatiable that way.

http://www.livescience.com/40853-mosasaur-cannibalism-scavenging.html

Galvasean

How do they know the remains were scavenged?

Adam Khor

It's an assumption apparently, because the jaws and skulls were not the "meaty parts", or that's what I think I read... :pac: Then again, I was under the impression that mosasaurs ate their prey either whole or in huge chunks, bones and all, so I don´t know...

Adam Khor

Study included ancient sea turtle, mosasaur and ichthyosaur. Apparently mosasaurs had a dark back and a light underbelly which is not surprising in an aquatic predator, whereas the ichthyosaurs were completely black.

Not sure how accurate this may be... after all, if those are the melanosomes preserved, wouldn´t one expect to find only the black pigmentation? Or did I get something wrong?

http://www.livescience.com/42415-ancient-marine-beast-color.html

Manach

Again, echoing OP from what I remember of the fossilisation of soft material was always a very hap-hazard process, but not completely unknown.

Kess73

Seems to be a technique that would come a very large margin of error.

If we were to take it as being the norm for medium to large aquatic animals and also medium to large aquatic/semi aquatic reptiles, then what evolutionary advantage was there for modern day aquatic animals of size to lose the same black colourations?

I think that some extinct sea reptiles etc may have been black, but think colourations may have been as varied as they are today, and free swimming predators in particular would most likely have had body colourations that aided them ( dark on top, light underneath). Now I could see the advantage for an ambush predator to be dark or dull in colour, but again this would not mean that it had to be black.

The UV protection bit I think is also very debatable as if it was such a big advantage ( even taking what we think the climate was like back then) then it would still make evolutionary sense now.

Adam Khor

No shark-like coastal nurseries for baby mosasaurs (at least some of them) after all:

http://www.futurity.org/mosasaurs-babies-895672/

Linnaeus

At least some species of Mosasaurs may have given birth to live offspring, like Ichthyosaurs. According to the article "Viviparity in Mosasaurs", from mapoflife.org, Carsosaurus marchesetti, described as a primitive "mosasaurid" of the Cretaceous, was certainly viviparous. A fossil of a pregnant Carsosaurus with four embryos has been discovered.

Adam Khor

Phosphorosaurus had huge eyes that faced forwards and probably fed on deep-sea, bioluminiscent fish and squid:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151208133445.htm

Linnaeus

What's most important about this creature is its binocular vision: an evolutionary development which gave it an advantage over other mosasaurs and aquatic predators.

Adam Khor

It certainly shows these guys were more diverse than we usually give them credit for.

Maybe a swordfish-like mosasaur will follow...

Adam Khor

https://www.foss-rec.net/21/55/2018/fr-21-55-2018.pdf
Bite may be from a mosasaur similar to Prognathodon. 

Adam Khor

https://www.astrobio.net/also-in-news/smallest-ever-tylosaurus-fossil-sheds-light-on-species/



Baby Tylosaurus skull sheds light on species

Adam Khor

New paper/digital reconstruction of Phosphorosaurus:

http://www.town.mukawa.lg.jp/secure/5408/Shinmura_Konishi_2018.pdf

Adam Khor

Fossils of the Huehuetla quarry, Mexico. Most intriguingly, there's a preserved tail of an early mosasaur, which shows the soft tissue outline including an incipient tailfin.

https://palaeo-electronica.org/content/2019/522-921/2457-huehuetla-turonian-vertebrates-figures#f8

Adam Khor

Tylosaurus was one of the largest mosasaurs, growing up to 12-15 m. It was, however, less massive than the later Mosasaurus.

Article is in Spanish:

https://www.elheraldodechihuahua.com.mx/local/descubren-en-ojinaga-craneo-de-mosasaurio-3947443.html

Rubecula

excellent info there thanks for posting it up..

Adam Khor

Mosasaurs swam using both their tail and their forelimbs, study says. Their swimming style would've been different from any other tetrapod known.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/mosasaurs-had-mean-breast-stroke-180973214/

Adam Khor

Mysterious fossil nicknamed "The Thing", from latest Cretaceous of Antarctica, is finally identified as a giant soft-shelled egg- the largest ever found, and possibly belonging to a mosasaur.

https://www.npr.org/2020/06/17/877679868/scientists-find-the-biggest-soft-shelled-egg-ever-nicknamed-the-thing







An associated paper suggests some (if not most) dinosaurs would've laid soft-shelled eggs as well, explaining the rarity of dinosaur eggs in the fossil record.

Important to note; there's good evidence that mosasaurs, plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs were viviparous, so that they identify the egg as coming from a mosasaur- which would have to lay the egg only for it to hatch immediately, lest the newborn mosasaur drown, is somewhat odd. There's already debate among paleontologists right now as to what the egg may have belonged to, with some suggesting a dinosaur (the egg was found in marine sediments but that doesn´t mean it belonged to a marine animal) or even a large turtle.

Adam Khor

New mosasaur from Morocco found, named Gavialimimus due to its gharial-like, long and thin snout with interlocking teeth (typical traits of a specialized fish eater).

http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/gavialimimus-almaghribensis-08930.html

Adam Khor

New genus of mosasaur, Gnathomortis (jaws of death) from North America.

http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/mosasaur-genus-gnathomortis-08881.html