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Locomotion And Skeletal Morphology Of Late Cretaceous Mosasaur, Tylosaurus Proriger, Jesse A. Carpenter
Locomotion And Skeletal Morphology Of Late Cretaceous Mosasaur, Tylosaurus Proriger, Jesse A. Carpenter
Honors College Theses
Mosasaurs (Reptilia: Squamata) are apex marine predators from the Late Cretaceous (Turonian to Maastrichtian) epicontinental seas of North America, Africa, Europe, and Asia. From previous studies, it has been suggested that this group trends towards increased rib compactness, lengthening and increased posterior inclination of neural spines of intermediate and terminal caudal vertebrae to support a caudal fluke, and a transition from anguilliform to carangiform locomotion, closer to thunniform in pelagic adapted species. This study examined multiple Tylosaurus specimens using centrum length/width (CL/CW) and width/height (CW/CH) ratios along with neural spine height and angle of posterior inclination to (1) describe the …