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Cretaceous Marine Reptile Fossil Gallery
Animalia, Chordata, Vertebrata, Sauropsida (Reptilia)
(Kingdom, Phylum, Subphylum, Class)
Red text = needs information
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Historical Trivia The first marine reptile was found near the Meuse River of Holland around 1770 in a limestone quarry. Mosasaur means “lizard of the Meuse or Maas River”. Its discovery incited the first court case concerning a fossil. The landowner had to go to court to claim his rite of ownership from the discoverer. Later it was ransomed for 600 bottles of wine to an invading French army. About Marine Reptiles Marine Reptiles are not dinosaurs. During the early Triassic, an early form of lizard left the land to live in the oceans. By the Cretaceous, they had diversified into the 4 kinds of marine reptiles: Ichthyosaurs (large animals with dolphin-like proportions), Plesiosaurs (snake-like necks with short bodies), Pliosaurs (short necks with large heads), and Mosasaurs (the long bodied giants). These animals could not leave the ocean to lay eggs. Like today’s whales, these reptiles birthed live young in open water. For a long time, paleontologists thought of marine reptiles as having a forth terrestrial skull type. Unlike other reptiles, the euryapsid skull has only one hole behind the orbit. But the skull plate and teeth arrangements are not similar to synapsids (mammal-like). The plate and teeth are instead similar to a diapsid (reptile-like). It has been determined that the connecting arch of bone between the double fenestrae (holes) has been lost. Today, a very few lizards have this same pattern. The closest living relative of the marine reptiles is the monitor lizards. Tylosaurs Tylosaurs are a type of Mosasaur and were the top predator of the Cretaceous oceans. They hold the record for being the largest lizard to live on Earth, nearly 60 feet long. Most of the fossils we find are from ancient large lagoons. With such a long body, they probably swam snake-like using a powerful finned tail to propel them through the water. Their short flippers acted as stabilizers. Marine reptiles have a loosely jointed lower jaw and a secondary joint within the jaw. These characteristics reveal the relationship to snakes and dinosaurs. The flexibility allowed the animal to swallow large prey. The teeth of mosasaurs are for catching swimming animals like fish, ammonites, birds, and other marine reptiles. The biting force could have rivaled that of T-rex. |
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Squamata, Mosasauridae
(Order, Family)
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Tylosaurus nepeolicus - cast Period: Upper Cretaceous, Boquillas formation Location: near Terlingua Texas Collection: Ken Barns, cast by the Boneheads Club Size: 3 ˝ feet long and would have belonged to a mosasaur 30 to 40 feet long. |
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? Period: Upper Cretaceous, Pierre Shale Location: South Dakota Collection: Judie Ostlien Size: ? mm long |
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Description: mosasaur vertebra |
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Plesiosauria, ?
(Order, Family)
Common Name: Plesiosaur
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? Common Name: Plesiosaur Period: Upper Cretaceous, Pierre Shale Location: South Dakota Collection: Judie Ostlien Size: ? mm long |
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Description: vertebra |
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? Common Name: Plesiosaur Period: Cretaceous Location: Big Horn, Wyoming Collection: Judie Ostlien Size: ? mm diameter |
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Description: vertebra cartilage |
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