A new Plotosaurini mosasaur skull from the upper Maastrichtian of Antarctica. Plotosaurini paleogeographic occurrences

During the Antarctic summer campaigns and as a result of paleontological fieldworks 2013–2015 several mosasaur remains have been collected from the upper Maastrichtian López de Bertodano Formation exposed at Marambio (=Seymour) Island, of the Antarctic Peninsula. One of these specimens preserves par...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: González Ruiz, Pablo, Fernández, Marta Susana, Talevi, Marianella, Leardi, Juan Martín, Reguero, Marcelo Alfredo
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2019
Country:Argentina
Institution:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repository:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/125124
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/125124
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:ANTARCTIC PENINSULA
MARAMBIO ISLAND
MOSASAUR
UPPER CRETACEOUS
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.5
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
Description
Summary:During the Antarctic summer campaigns and as a result of paleontological fieldworks 2013–2015 several mosasaur remains have been collected from the upper Maastrichtian López de Bertodano Formation exposed at Marambio (=Seymour) Island, of the Antarctic Peninsula. One of these specimens preserves part of the skull and dentition, which represent one of the few known skulls from Antarctica. The new specimen (MLP 15-I-24-41) is similar to member of the mosasaur tribe Plotosaurini, sharing the same fronto-parietal suture pattern, and a similar dental morphology as some of the species assigned to the genus. As the specimen is not complete enough to propose a new name it is referred to Mosasaurus sp. The presence of these remains on the southern hemisphere represents one of the most complete records of a Mosasaurus mosasaur.