Mosasaurus (marine reptile)

Object/Artifact

-

Crater Rock Museum

Name/Title

Mosasaurus (marine reptile)

Entry/Object ID

2011.57.28

Description

Description: Family: Mosasauridae (Fake?) Class: Reptilia Order: Squamata Genus: Mosasaurus Common Name: Marine Reptile Age: Cretaceous Location: Unknown Description: Large oval sandstone matrix with partial jaw and teeth. Very well defined. Tans and yellow with slight orange jaw bone. Physical Characteristics: Mosasaurs (from Latin Mosa meaning the 'Meuse river', and Greek sauros meaning 'lizard') are large extinct marine lizards. The first fossil remains were discovered in a limestone quarry at Maastricht on the Meuse in 1764. Mosasaurs are now considered to be the closest relatives of snakes, due to cladistic analyses that have taken into account similarities in jaw and skull anatomies.[1] Mosasaurs were varanoids closely related to terrestrial monitor lizards. They probably evolved from semi-aquatic squamates[2] known as aigialosaurs, which were more similar in appearance to modern-day monitor lizards, in the Early Cretaceous. During the last 20 million years of the Cretaceous Period (Turonian-Maastrichtian), with the extinction of the ichthyosaurs and pliosaurs, mosasaurs became the dominant marine predators. Genus: Mosasaurus Kingdom: Animalia (Animals) Class: Reptilia Order: Squamata Phylum: Chordata

Collection

Museum Collection of Fossils

Acquisition

Accession

2011.57

Source or Donor

Museum Collection of Fossils

Acquisition Method

Long-term Loan

Dimensions

Width

5-3/4 in

Depth

1-11/16 in

Length

8-3/8 in

Location

Location

Container

Left

Drawer

2nd Shelf

Shelf

Center

Cabinet

Case # 49

Wall

North

Room

Delmar Smith Hall

Building

Crater Rock Museum

Category

Permanent