Plioplatecarpus
Name:
Plioplatecarpus
(More flat wrist).
Phonetic: Ply-oh-plat-e-kar-pus.
Named By: Louis Dollo - 1882.
Synonyms: Halisaurus fraternus,
Mosasaurus depressus, Oterognathus, Phosphorosaurus.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Squamata,
Mosasauridae, Plioplatecarpinae.
Species: P. depressus, P. houzeaui, P.
marshi, P. peckensis, P. primaevus.
Diet: Carnivore/Piscivore.
Size: Estimated around 5.5 meters long.
Known locations: Across Europe and North America.
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Several individual specimens.
The
sheer expanse of Plioplatecarpus remains in both
Europe and North
America indicate that this mosasaur
was a predator that frequented the
open ocean, and was not restricted to just hunting in shallow waters
like some smaller mosasaurs have been presumed to have been.
Additionally Plioplatecarpus had proportionately
larger eyes than
other mosasaurs which might hint at a deep water adaptation similar in
function to the earlier big eyed ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaurs
like
Ophthalmosaurus.
The
teeth of Plioplatecarpus also suggest an adaptation
for smaller and
possibly slippery prey since they are strongly recurved. This means
that each tooth had a pronounced curve that saw the tip of the crown
pointing backwards at an angle rather than straight up. Aside from
just fish, open ocean and deep water prey animals would have been
squid and ammonites, although the teeth seem more suited for work on
softer bodied squid rather than shelled ammonites. The snout of
Plioplatecarpus is proportionately shorter than
other mosasaurs, and
is likely an adaptation to increase the jaw opening and closing
speeds. This idea is based upon the established principle that a
smaller surface area (as in the shorter snout) would experience
much less resistance as it moved through the water. Much more extreme
shortening can be seen in other deep water marine reptiles such as the
gigantic Shastasaurus.
The
name Plioplatecarpus is derived from this mosasaurs
similarity with the
earlier named Platecarpus
which led to the combination of the word
'plio’ (more) with Platecarpus. The meaning
of Platecarpus is
‘flat wrist’ and is in reference to the flat structure of the bones
in the front flippers.
Further reading
- Systematics and morphology of American mosasaurs (Reptilia, Sauria).
- Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 23:1-252. - D. A.
Russell - 1967.
- Plioplatecarpus primaevus (Mosasauridae) from the
Bearpaw Formation
(Campanian, Upper Cretaceous) of the North American Western Interior
Seaway. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology Vol. 16, No. 4, pp673-687
- Robert Holmes - 1996.
- A new species of mosasaur (Squamata: Mosasauridae) from the Pierre
Shale (lower Campanian) of Manitoba. - Canadian Journal of Earth
Sciences 44:593-606. - Robin S. Cuthbertson, Jordan C. Mallon, Nicolas
E. Campione & Robert B. Holmes - 2007.
- A new species of Plioplatecarpus (Mosasauridae,
Plioplatecarpinae)
from the Bearpaw Formation (Campanian, Upper Cretaceous) of Montana,
USA. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 35(3). - R. S. Cuthbertson
and R. B. Holmes - 2015.
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