Nordic Geological Winter Meeting

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Nordic Geological Winter Meeting THE 33RD NORDIC GEOLOGICAL WINTER MEETING 10-12. JANUARY 2018 KGS. LYNGBY, DENMARK HOSTED BY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF DENMARK & TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF DENMARK Dansk Geologisk Forening Geological Society of Denmark POSTER POSTER Carinodens – a new addition to the Biostratigraphy and palaeoecology of Late Cretaceous mosasaur fauna of calcareous nannofossils in the Lower Denmark Cretaceous Munk Marl Bed, Danish North Sea Jesper Milàn1, John W.M. Jagt2, Johan Lindgren3 and Anne S. Schulp2 Sarah D. Møller1, Emma Sheldon2 and Jan Audun 1Geomuseum Faxe, Denmark, 2Natuurhistorisch Rasmussen3 Museum Maastricht, The Netherlands, 3Department of 1Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Geology, Lund University, Sweden Management, Københavns Universitet, 2GEUS, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, 3Fossil- og Molermuseet, Museum Mors The small durophagous mosasaurine mosasaur (Reptilia, Mosasauridae) genus Carinodens is exceedingly rare in north European chalk The Lower Cretaceous Munk Marl Bed of the deposits, with published finds limited to a small Tuxen Formation (Danish Central Graben) marks number of shed tooth crowns and two partial a change in the depositional environment within dentaries from The Netherlands and Belgium, all a chalk unit. Here we investigate the calcareous assigned to Carinodens belgicus. A newly nannofossils from this interval of the Danish discovered isolated, shed tooth crown from the Boje-2C well with emphasis on biostratigraphy UNESCO world heritage site of Stevns Klint and palaeoecology to better understand the expands the known geographical distribution of pelagic environment at the time of deposition. A another species, C. minalmamar, first described total of seventy-two samples were analysed from from Morocco, to Denmark. The specimen was the well. The samples correlate to the upper found within the uppermost metres of the Lower Barremian nannofossil zones BC14 and Maastrichtian chalk deposits, thereby placing it LK20B. An acme of nannoconid ‘tops’ is proposed within the last 50.000 years of the Cretaceous. as a new biostratigraphical event characterising The new tooth crown represents the the middle part of the Munk Marl Bed. High northernmost occurrence of the genus abundances of thermophile taxa suggest warm Carinodens. Previous finds of mosasaur dental surface water conditions at the time of and skeletal materials from Denmark have all deposition. Indicators of increased fertility show been assigned to the hypercarnivorous particularly low abundances indicating a mosasaurids Mosasaurus hoffmannii and decrease in surface water fertility, presumably Plioplatecarpus sp. Thus, the new specimen related to an increased detrital input. provides important new information on Correspondence analysis ordinates samples in ecological niche partitioning amongst large relation to identified palaeoecological proxies marine reptiles during the latest Maastrichtian. and reflects palaeotrophic levels in the surface water within the section. The analysis shows that the calcareous nannofossils indicate a period of more oligotrophic surface water in the middle of the section. 147 .
Recommended publications
  • Two Rare Mosasaurs from the Maastrichtian of Angola and the Netherlands
    Netherlands Journal of Geosciences — Geologie en Mijnbouw | 92 – 1 | 3-10 | 2013 Two rare mosasaurs from the Maastrichtian of Angola and the Netherlands A.S. Schulp1,2,*, M.J. Polcyn3, O. Mateus4,5 & L.L. Jacobs3 1 Natuurhistorisch Museum Maastricht, De Bosquetplein 6-7, 6211 KJ Maastricht, the Netherlands 2 Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands 3 Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX75275, USA 4 CICEGe, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Monte de Caparica, Portugal 5 Museu da Lourinhã, Rua João Luis de Moura 95, 2530-158 Lourinhã, Portugal * Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] Manuscript received: October 2011, accepted: June 2012 Abstract We report here the addition of two rare mosasaur taxa to the Maastrichtian marine amniote fauna of Angola, both of which are also found in northern Europe. The new specimens include a dentary fragment referable to the large carnivore Prognathodon cf. saturator and an isolated tooth of the small durophage Carinodens belgicus. Both were recovered from Maastrichtian outcrops in southern Angola in 2011. Additionally, a complete posterior mandibular unit of a large mosasaur from the type Maastrichtian of the Netherlands, collected some time prior to 1879 and previously identified as ‘Mosasaurus giganteus’, is described and reassigned here to Prognathodon saturator; historical issues surrounding the taxonomic attribution of this specimen are clarified. The new material extends the known geographic distribution of Prognathodon saturator and Carinodens belgicus. Keywords: Mosasauridae, Prognathodon, Carinodens, Maastrichtian, Angola, the Netherlands Introduction Limburg Province, the Netherlands); the holotype is now housed in the collections of the Natuurhistorisch Museum In recent years our knowledge of the marine reptile fauna of Maastricht (NHMM1998-141).
    [Show full text]
  • A Giant Chelonioid Turtle from the Late Cretaceous of Morocco with a Suction Feeding Apparatus Unique Among Tetrapods
    OPEN 3 ACCESS Freely available online © PLOSI o - A Giant Chelonioid Turtle from the Late Cretaceous of Morocco with a Suction Feeding Apparatus Unique among Tetrapods Nathalie Bardet1*, Nour-Eddine Jal ¡I2, France de Lapparent de Broin1, Damien Germain1, Olivier Lambert3, Mbarek Amaghzaz4 1 CNRS UMR 7207, Département Histoire de la Terre, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France, 2 Cadi Ayyad University, Faculty of Sciences Semlalia, Department of Earth Sciences, Vertebrate Evolution and Palaeoenvironnements, Marrakech, Morocco, 3 Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Département de Paléontologie, Bruxelles, Belgium, 4 Office Chérifien des Phosphates, Centre Minier de Khouribga, Khouribga, Morocco Abstract Background: Secondary adaptation to aquatic life occurred independently in several amnlote lineages, Including reptiles during the Mesozoic and mammals during the Cenozoic. These evolutionary shifts to aquatic environments imply major morphological modifications, especially of the feeding apparatus. Mesozoic (250-65 Myr) marine reptiles, such as ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, mosasaurid squamates, crocodiles, and turtles, exhibit a wide range of adaptations to aquatic feeding and a broad overlap of their tooth morphospaces with those of Cenozoic marine mammals. However, despite these multiple feeding behavior convergences, suction feeding, though being a common feeding strategy In aquatic vertebrates and in marine mammals In particular, has been extremely rarely reported for Mesozoic marine reptiles. Principal Findings: A relative of fossil protostegid and dermochelyoid sea turtles,Ocepechelon bouyai gen. et sp. nov. is a new giant chelonioid from the Late Maastrichtian (67 Myr) of Morocco exhibiting remarkable adaptations to marine life (among others, very dorsally and posteriorly located nostrils). The 70-cm-longOcepechelon skull of not only makes it one of the largest marine turtles ever described, but also deviates significantly from typical turtle cranial morphology.
    [Show full text]
  • (Squamata: Mosasauridae) from the Late Cretaceous Of
    C. R. Palevol 14 (2015) 483–493 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Comptes Rendus Palevol www.sci encedirect.com General Palaeontology, Systematics and Evolution (Vertebrate Palaeontology) An halisaurine (Squamata: Mosasauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia, with a preserved tympanic disc: Insights into the mosasaur middle ear Un halisauriné (Squamata : Mosasauridae) du Crétacé supérieur de Patagonie, à disque tympanique conservé : un aperc¸ u de l’oreille moyenne des mosasaures a,∗ b Marta S. Fernández , Marianella Talevi a CONICET - División Paleontología Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata, Paseo del Bosque s/n, 1900 La Plata, Argentina b CONICET - Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología, Universidad Nacional de Río Negro, Isidro Lobo y Belgrano, 8332 General Roca, Río Negro, Argentina a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Halisaurinae is a subfamily of enigmatic, small- to medium-sized mosasauroids, which Received 15 September 2014 retain a mosaic of primitive and derived features. The first record of a South American Hal- Accepted after revision 13 May 2015 isaurus with precise stratigraphic information includes a quadrate carrying a tympanic disc together with twelve vertebrae, collected in the Late Maastrichtian of Jagüel Formation Handled by Nathalie Bardet in northern Patagonia (Argentina). The preservation of a tympanic disc allows exploring and discussing the mechanisms of sound transmission in these mosasauroids. The loca- Keywords: tion of the tympanic disc resembles that one formed by the extracolumella of aquatic Halisaurus turtles and at least one extant lizard. Based on morphological comparison of the middle Patagonia ear we discuss previous hypotheses on the modification of the tympanic middle ear system Late Maastrichtian of mosasauroids for underwater hearing, in a manner similar to that observed in aquatic Cretaceous turtles.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Full Article in PDF Format
    comptes rendus palevol 2021 20 20 iles — Jean- pt Cl re au d d n e a R s a n g a e i — b i h P p a l a m e a o f b o i o y l h o p g a y r g a o n e d g p o i a l b a o e DIRECTEURS DE LA PUBLICATION / PUBLICATION DIRECTORS : Bruno David, Président du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle Étienne Ghys, Secrétaire perpétuel de l’Académie des sciences RÉDACTEURS EN CHEF / EDITORS-IN-CHIEF : Michel Laurin (CNRS), Philippe Taquet (Académie des sciences) ASSISTANTE DE RÉDACTION / ASSISTANT EDITOR : Adenise Lopes (Académie des sciences ; [email protected]) MISE EN PAGE / PAGE LAYOUT : Fariza Sissi (Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle ; [email protected]) RÉVISIONS LINGUISTIQUES DES TEXTES ANGLAIS / ENGLISH LANGUAGE REVISIONS : Kevin Padian (University of California at Berkeley) RÉDACTEURS ASSOCIÉS / ASSOCIATE EDITORS : Micropaléontologie/Micropalaeontology Maria Rose Petrizzo (Università di Milano, Milano) Paléobotanique/Palaeobotany Cyrille Prestianni (Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels) Métazoaires/Metazoa Annalisa Ferretti (Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena) Paléoichthyologie/Palaeoichthyology Philippe Janvier (Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Académie des sciences, Paris) Amniotes du Mésozoïque/Mesozoic amniotes Hans-Dieter Sues (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington) Tortues/Turtles Juliana Sterli (CONICET, Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, Trelew) Lépidosauromorphes/Lepidosauromorphs Hussam Zaher (Universidade de São Paulo) Oiseaux/Birds Eric Buffetaut (CNRS, École Normale Supérieure, Paris) Paléomammalogie (mammifères de moyenne et grande taille)/Palaeomammalogy (large and mid-sized mammals) Lorenzo Rook* (Università degli Studi di Firenze, Firenze) Paléomammalogie (petits mammifères sauf Euarchontoglires)/Palaeomammalogy (small mammals except for Euarchontoglires) Robert Asher (Cambridge University, Cambridge) Paléomammalogie (Euarchontoglires)/Palaeomammalogy (Euarchontoglires) K.
    [Show full text]
  • Cranial Anatomy of a Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) Mosasaur (Squamata, Mosasauridae) from North-East Mexico
    Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas,Cranial anatomy v. 24, núm.of a Maastrichtian 1, 2007, p. 89-103 mosasaur from north-east Mexico 89 Cranial anatomy of a Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) mosasaur (Squamata, Mosasauridae) from north-east Mexico Marie-Céline Buchy1,*, Eberhard Frey2, Wolfgang Stinnesbeck3, and José Guadalupe López-Oliva4 1 Universität Karlsruhe, Geologisches Institut, Postfach 6980, D-76128 Karlsruhe, Germany. Current address: Museo del Desierto, Apartado Postal 307, 25000 Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico. 2 Geowissenschaftliche Abteilung, Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Erbprinzenstrasse 13, D-76133 Karlsruhe, Germany. 3 Universität Karlsruhe, Geologisches Institut, Postfach 6980, D-76128 Karlsruhe, Germany. 4 Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Facultad de Ciencias de la Tierra, Apartado Postal 104, 67700 Linares, N.L., Mexico. * [email protected] ABSTRACT We here describe the first mosasaur from Mexico known by significant cranial remains, from the late Early Maastrichtian Méndez Formation of Nuevo León, north-east Mexico. The specimen comprises a fragmentary skull and parts of the mandibles. Some anatomical features suggest a juvenile animal. The skull possesses a rostral tuberosity on the premaxilla, as well as a combination of features known from different mosasaur genera, like its frontopremaxillary suture situated caudal to the external naris, its prefrontal and postorbitofrontal being in contact lateral to the orbit, associated with the supra- and infrastapedial processes of its quadrate which almost contact one another. Despite being clearly distinct from any hitherto described mosasaur, the affinities of this specimen with other mosasaurs remain obscure, not only because of incompleteness, but also because of the poorly understood biological significance of the characters used for the classification of Mosasauridae.
    [Show full text]
  • And Microwear in Carinodens Belgicus, a Small Mosasaur from the Type Maastrichtian
    Netherlands Journal of Geosciences — Geologie en Mijnbouw | 92 – 4 | 267-274 | 2013 Dental macro- and microwear in Carinodens belgicus, a small mosasaur from the type Maastrichtian F.M. Holwerda1,2,*, B.L. Beatty3 & A.S. Schulp4,5,6 1 Bayerische Staatssamlung für Paläontologie und Geologie, Richard-Wagner-Straße 10, 80333 München, Germany (current address) 2 CICEGe, Departamento de Ciências da Terra, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, FCT, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-526 Caparica, Portugal 3 Department of Anatomy, New York Institute of Technology, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Northern Boulevard, Old Westbury, NY 11568, USA 4 Natuurhistorisch Museum Maastricht, De Bosquetplein 6-7, 6211 KJ Maastricht, the Netherlands 5 Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands 6 Naturalis Biodiversity Center, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands * Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] Manuscript received: January 2013, accepted: July 2013 Abstract Teeth of the small durophagous mosasaur Carinodens belgicus are known from Maastrichtian Atlantic-Tethyan deposits worldwide. The peculiar dentition of Carinodens inspired debate and speculation on its dietary niche ever since its first description. In this contribution, we describe the macro- and microwear pattern in five well-preserved isolated teeth, allowing further and independent evaluation of aspects of feeding behaviour and diet. Macroscopically, wear is concentrated on the apex and mesiodistal sides. Microwear was mapped using Scanning Electron Microscopy at several magnifications and can be characterised as scratches and pits. Coarse scratches were found to be the most common and pits were found to be the least common feature.
    [Show full text]
  • Ichnology of Late Cretaceous Echinoids from the Maastrichtian Type Area (The Netherlands, Belgium) - 1
    Bulletin of the Mizunami Fossil Museum, no. 34 (2008), p. 73–76, 1 fig. © 2008, Mizunami Fossil Museum Ichnology of Late Cretaceous echinoids from the Maastrichtian type area (The Netherlands, Belgium) - 1. A healed puncture wound in Hemipneustes striatoradiatus (Leske) Stephen K. Donovan,* John W. M. Jagt+, and David N. Lewis# *Department of Geology, Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum, Postbus 9517, NL-2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands <[email protected]> +Natuurhistorisch Museum Maastricht, de Bosquetplein 6-7, NL-6211 KJ Maastricht, The Netherlands <[email protected]> #Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, England <[email protected]> Abstract A test of the holasteroid echinoid Hemipneustes striatoradiatus (Leske) from the upper Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) of quarry ‘t Rooth (Bemelen, southern Limburg, The Netherlands) is perforated by a pit on the mid-line of the adoral surface. This structure is large (maximum width 13.5 mm, depth 5.8 mm), rounded pentagonal in outline, bilaterally symmetrical and irregularly conical with a flat base. It may be an invertebrate trace fossil, although not the boring Oichnus Bromley or an embedment structure, or it may represent a healed puncture wound produced after a failed predatory attack by a marine vertebrate such as a bony fish or a mosasaur. If the latter, the shape of the pit may have been modified by the echinoid healing the wound; alternately, the tooth that caused the wound may have been truncated. Key words: Ichnology, Hemipneustes, predation, Upper Cretaceous, Maastrichtian, The Netherlands. Introduction (NHMM). The holasteroid echinoid Hemipneustes striatoradiatus Material and methods (Leske, 1778) is a large, locally common and striking element of the invertebrate macrofauna of the type Maastrichtian In the type area of the Maastrichtian Stage, Hemipneustes (Upper Cretaceous) of the provinces of Limburg and Liège, striatoradiatus ranges from the middle Lanaye Member (Gulpen The Netherlands and Belgium.
    [Show full text]
  • Prognathodon (Squamata, Mosasauridae) from the Maastrichtian Chalk of Denmark
    BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF DENMARK · VOL. 69 · 2021 Prognathodon (Squamata, Mosasauridae) from the Maastrichtian chalk of Denmark TOM J. GILTAIJ, JESPER MILÀN, JOHN W.M. JAGT & ANNE S. SCHULP Giltaij, T.J., Milàn, J., Jagt, J.W.M. & Schulp, A.S. 2021: Prognathodon (Squamata, Mosasauridae) from the Maastrichtian chalk of Denmark. Bulletin of the Geologi- cal Society of Denmark, vol. 69, pp. 53–58. ISSN 2245-7070. https://doi.org/10.37570/bgsd-2021-69-03 Two mosasaur tooth crowns collected from the Maastrichtian chalk sequences of Geological Society of Denmark Stevns Klint and Møns Klint are here assigned to Prognathodon, a mosasaur genus https://2dgf.dk hitherto unknown from Denmark. Together with previous records of the mosasaurs Plioplatecarpus, Mosasaurus and Carinodens, these new finds ofPrognathodon document Received 15 September 2020 the coexistence of four mosasaurid genera in the Danish chalk and underscore simi- Accepted in revised form larities to coeval assemblages from the Maastrichtian type area in the Netherlands 30 April 2021 and Belgium. Published online 31 May 2021 Keywords: Marine reptiles, northern Europe, Upper Cretaceous, faunal composi- © 2021 the authors. Re-use of material is tions, comparisons. permitted, provided this work is cited. Creative Commons License CC BY: Tom J. Giltaij [[email protected]], Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands; also Geologisch Museum Hofland, Hilversumseweg 51, 1251 EW Laren, the Netherlands; and Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80115, 3508 TC Utrecht, the Netherlands. Jesper Milàn [jesperm@ oesm.dk], Geomuseum Faxe/Østsjællands Museum, Rådhusvej 2, 4640 Faxe, Denmark.
    [Show full text]
  • Download PDF ( Final Version , 1Mb )
    NAÎUUlîHISTORISCH MAANDBLAD SEPTEMBER 2004 JAARGANG fi 261 EEN NIEUWE MINIMOSASAURUS UIT MAASTRICHT Anne S. Schulp, Natuurhistorisch Museum Maastricht, De Bosquetplein 6-7, 621 I Kj Maasthcht Het is één van de minst bekende mosasauriërs ter wereld, en de zaam is vergeleken met de zoveel beter beken• de Mosasaurus hoffmanni blijft nog de vraag. allerkleinste bovendien. Een nieuwe vondst van deze Cannodens belgicus uit de ENCI-groeve werpt meer licht op het mysterieuze BUITEN MAASTRICHT gebit van de minimosasaurus. Ook over de eetgewoonten van Carinodens valt nu wat meer te zeggen. Buiten Maastricht is Carinodens opvallend genoeg maar nauwelijks bekend, terwijl de karakterisde- ke tanden toch geen ruimte voor verwarring overlaten. In Bulgarije is totdusver welgeteld één EERSTE VONDST SINDS 1913 naturelles de Belgique te Brussel schonk. tandje opgegraven (TZANKOV, 1939), maar Ra• Soms is de geschiedenis van de nomenclatuur men Tzankov (géén familie!), diezich momenteel Vondsten van Carinodens, de kleinste mosasau• van een fossiel nogal onoverzichtelijk. Bij Cari• met de studie van de Bulgaarse mosasauriërs be• rus uit het Maastrichtse Krijt, behoren tot de nodens is dat zeker het geval. Omdat de tanden zighoudt, wist ons te vertellen dat er op de Bul• grote zeldzaamheden. Losse tanden duiken nog toch wat meer afgeplat waren dan die van Glo• gaarse Car/nodens-vindplaats nog niet veel gegra• wel eens op, maar meer compleet materiaal is bidens veranderde de naam in Compressidens, ven is. Dat biedt dus hoop voor de toekomst Carinodens nagenoeg onbekend. Verzamelaar Frans Fon- maar die naam bleek al voor een ander dier in Ook uit Marokko is bekend.
    [Show full text]
  • (Squamata) from the Upper Cretaceous Phosphates of Morocco, with Description of a New Species of Globidens
    Netherlands Journal of Geosciences — Geologie en Mijnbouw | 84 - 3 | 167 - 175 | 2005 Durophagous Mosasauridae (Squamata) from the Upper Cretaceous phosphates of Morocco, with description of a new species of Globidens N. Bardet1'*, X. Pereda Suberbiola2, M. Iarochene3, M. Amalik4 & B. Bouya5 1 UMR 5143 du CNRS, Departement Histoire de la Terre, Museum national d'Histoire naturelle, 8 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France. 2 Universidad del Pais Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnologia, Departamento de Estratigrafia y Paleontologia, Apartado 644, 48080 Bilbao, Spain. 3 Ministere de I'Energie et des Mines, Direction de la Geologie, BP 6208, Rabat, Morocco. 4 Office Cherifien des Phosphates, Centre Minier de Ben Guerir, Morocco. 5 Office Cherifien des Phosphates, Centre Minier de Khouribga, Morocco. * Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] Manuscript received: November 2004; accepted: January 2005 Abstract | Three durophagous mosasaur species are represented by isolated teeth in the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) phosphatic beds of Morocco. Globidens phosphaticus nov. sp. is characterised mainly by a strong heterodonty, with mid-posterior teeth being bulbous, irregularly oval in cross- section, and having an inflated posterior surface, a large eccentric located and recurved apical nubbin, vertical sulci on medial and lateral faces, no carinae and an enamel surface covered by anastomosing ridges. Teeth of Prognathodon currii are broad and tall, straight cones, slightly swollen at the base, and with two serrated carinae. These two taxa have been collected from all the phosphatic series (lower to upper Maastrichtian) in the Ganntour Basin (Morocco). Globidens phosphaticus nov. sp. is probably also represented at other Maastrichtian phosphatic sites along the southern margin of the Mediterranean Tethys.
    [Show full text]
  • Was There a Mesozoic and Cenozoic Marine Predatory Revolution?
    POST-PALEOZOIC PATTERNS IN MARINE PREDATION: WAS THERE A MESOZOIC AND CENOZOIC MARINE PREDATORY REVOLUTION? SALLY E. WALKERI AND CARLTON E. BRETT2 'Department of Geology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602 USA 2Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0013 USA ABSTRACT-Mesozoic and Cenozoic evolution ofpredators involved a series ofepisodes. Predators rebounded rather rapidly after the Permo-Triassic extinction and by the Middle Triassic a variety ofnew predator guilds had appeared, including decapod crustaceans with crushing claws, shell-crushing sharks and bonyfish, as well as marine reptiles adaptedfor crushing, smashing, and piercing shells. While several groups (e.g., placodonts, nothosaurs) became extinct in the Late Triassic crises, others (e.g., ichthyosaurs) survived; and the Jurassic to Early Cretaceous saw the rise ofmalacostracan crustaceans with crushing chelae and predatory vertebrates-in particular, the marine crocodilians, ichthyosaurs, and plesiosaurs. The late Cretaceous saw unprecedented levels of diversity ofmarine predaceous vertebrates including pliosaurids, plesiosaurs, and mosasaurs. The great Cretaceous­ Tertiary extinction decimated marine reptiles. However, most invertebrate andfish predatory groups survived; and during the Paleogene, predatory benthic invertebrates showed a spurt ofevolution with neogastropods and new groupsofdecapods, while the teleostsand neoselachian sharks both undenventparallel rapid evolutionary radiations; these werejoinedby new predatory guilds
    [Show full text]
  • Two Rare Mosasaurs from the Maastrichtian of Angola and the Netherlands
    Netherlands Journal of Geosciences — Geologie en Mijnbouw | 92 – 1 | 3-10 | 2013 Two rare mosasaurs from the Maastrichtian of Angola and the Netherlands A.S. Schulp1,2,*, M.J. Polcyn3, O. Mateus4,5 & L.L. Jacobs3 1 Natuurhistorisch Museum Maastricht, De Bosquetplein 6-7, 6211 KJ Maastricht, the Netherlands 2 Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands 3 Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX75275, USA 4 CICEGe, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Monte de Caparica, Portugal 5 Museu da Lourinhã, Rua João Luis de Moura 95, 2530-158 Lourinhã, Portugal * Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] Manuscript received: October 2011, accepted: June 2012 Abstract We report here the addition of two rare mosasaur taxa to the Maastrichtian marine amniote fauna of Angola, both of which are also found in northern Europe. The new specimens include a dentary fragment referable to the large carnivore Prognathodon cf. saturator and an isolated tooth of the small durophage Carinodens belgicus. Both were recovered from Maastrichtian outcrops in southern Angola in 2011. Additionally, a complete posterior mandibular unit of a large mosasaur from the type Maastrichtian of the Netherlands, collected some time prior to 1879 and previously identified as ‘Mosasaurus giganteus’, is described and reassigned here to Prognathodon saturator; historical issues surrounding the taxonomic attribution of this specimen are clarified. The new material extends the known geographic distribution of Prognathodon saturator and Carinodens belgicus. Keywords: Mosasauridae, Prognathodon, Carinodens, Maastrichtian, Angola, the Netherlands Introduction Limburg Province, the Netherlands); the holotype is now housed in the collections of the Natuurhistorisch Museum In recent years our knowledge of the marine reptile fauna of Maastricht (NHMM1998-141).
    [Show full text]