![]() | This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (color, defense, traveled) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus. |
![]() | Mosasaurus is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so. | |||||||||||||||
![]() | This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on June 10, 2022. | |||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Current status: Featured article |
![]() | Mosasaurus ( final version) received a peer review by Wikipedia editors, which on 25 November 2020 was archived. It may contain ideas you can use to improve this article. |
![]() | This ![]() It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Why does this page exist? Mosasaurus should redirect to this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosasaur
Either that, or "mosasaur" should be changed to the cprrect "mosasaurus".
Habib-- 83.72.194.208 15:36, 29 April 2006 (UTC)
Image:Prim mosasaur.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot 17:01, 24 October 2007 (UTC)
Image:Prim mosasaur.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot 19:12, 24 October 2007 (UTC)
Isn't the number of species in the taxobox a little improbable? Never have I seen so many recognized species (not even with Iguanodon!) for one genus. Crimsonraptor ( talk) 00:20, 5 November 2010 (UTC)
Not sure why, but the species Mosasaurus conodon is never mentioned on here. I'm a student at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, where a huge skeleton of M. conodon is mounted in our museum and have found numerous references to M. conodon elsewhere. Yet I cannot find it listed anywhere on Wikipedia. What is the deal with this species? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.123.150.2 ( talk) 06:31, 11 October 2011 (UTC) --ETA: I have since found via the Paleobiology Database that the source of the name is Cope (1881), and that it has also been suggested as belonging to Clidastes. The name doesn't show up in the Clidastes article either though. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.123.150.2 ( talk) 06:37, 11 October 2011 (UTC)
As a side note, Mosasaurus gigantea (Soemmering 1816) is a new combination by Cope (1869) for Lacerta gigantea (which is now the type species of the metriorhynchid genus Geosaurus Cuvier 1824) based on Soemmering's mistaken belief that Geosaurus belonged to the same taxon as Mosasaurus (see Young and Andrade 2009 for the taxonomic history of Geosaurus giganteus). Because Geosaurus is a metriorhynchid and not a mosasaur, Young and Andrade (2009) have advised the exclusion of L. gigantea and M. gigantea from synonymy lists for Mosasaurus hoffmani. For more information on Mosasaurus conodon, see the monumental monograph on North American mosasaurs by Russell (1967). Mosasaurus johnsoni (Mehl 1930) is a new combination for the Mexican mosasaur Amphekepubis johnsoni Mehl 1930, Mosasaurus poultneyi Martin, 1953 is a nomen ex dissertationae, Mosasaurus neovidii Meyer 1845 is a junior synonym of Mosasaurus missouriensis, and M. copeanus is now a junior synonym of Plioplatecarpus depressus (Cope 1869).
Cope CD. 1869. On the reptilian orders, Pythonomorpha and Streptosauria. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History 12: 250–266. 68.4.61.168 ( talk) 18:24, 14 July 2012 (UTC)Vahe Demirjian
The story of how these bones were studied in Haarlem is pretty interesting, and Napoleon wanted to take it to Paris. In the spirit of the current Wikipedia:GLAM/Teylers/Multilingual Challenge it would be great to promote this article to B status. Does anyone know how? Jane ( talk) 18:40, 28 February 2012 (UTC)
In case someone here doesn't know, Lingham-Soliar (1995) is the source of the 18m Mosasaurus and this is how he came up with that estimate, from page 156:
The entire lower jaw is reliably estimated at 1600 mm. Using a 1: 10 head to body ratio (see Russell 1967, p. 210 for M. maximus) the length of the whole animal is estimated at 17.6 m, making it the largest marine reptile known.
Can anyone spot the mistake? 1.6m is 10% of 17.6m? really? not to mention that Russell (1967) suggestion of a 1:10 ratio in large mosasaurs is without basis, according to his own tables such ratio is only observed in the short snouted Platecarpus, with ratios of ~1:7-1:8 observed in the other mosasaurs, with a tendency for relatively larger heads at larger body sizes. This is further supported by Lindgren (2005) downsizing of Hainosaurus bernardi at 12.2m with a 1.6m skull (always <90% of lower jaw length). As far as I know this mistake has not been recognized in the literature and neither has Russell's 1:10 ratio been denounced as inaccurate so my suggestion is adding the quote above (followed by a [sic]) so readers can spot the mistake for themselves... maybe. Mike.BRZ ( talk) 17:31, 13 December 2015 (UTC)
@ Levi bernardo: According to the text, the size of the animal was at most 18 meters. Is your scale not a bit generous? Have you used any sources for this image?–Totie ( talk) 03:11, 4 March 2016 (UTC)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 10 external links on Mosasaurus. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
This message was posted before February 2018.
After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than
regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors
have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the
RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{
source check}}
(last update: 5 June 2024).
Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot ( Report bug) 14:07, 2 January 2018 (UTC)
Table 3 on page 99 of the Carnegie Institution of Washington 1954 Year Book at https://archive.org/details/yearbookcarne53195354carn (historically, one of the earliest reports of original biological material in Cretaceous, etc. strata) presents "Mosasaurus (dinosaur)" alongside Stegosaur (dinosaur), Mesohippus (prehistoric horse), etc. I'm wondering for the History of Discovery section, if anyone knows if this was a "typo" at Carnegie, or if the Mosasaur was at one time considered a dinosaur by leading scientists (including P.H, Abelson, who wrote that Paleochemistry section)? Bob Enyart, Denver KGOV radio host ( talk) 20:47, 30 March 2018 (UTC)
This is a shout out to someone who actually studies this topic.
If there are skeletons, aren't there projections of weight?
How does this size, as calculated from said skeletons, compare to a whale, to a T-Rex, to a shark, ... ? Wonderfully encyclopedic would be an illustration showing larger and smaller animals. 76.185.10.9 ( talk) 01:35, 12 May 2018 (UTC)
Is the picture accurate? To me it looks like a whale, which is a mammal.
82.72.139.164 ( talk) 07:16, 22 May 2019 (UTC)
The picture in the description section has one eating a theropod, even though that's not listed in it's prey list. Can the list either be updated, or a better picture be sourced? 194.28.124.52 ( talk) 02:46, 10 January 2020 (UTC)
Amazing expansion! But I'm not a fan of the image titled "A lethal attack on a Mosasaurus by Tylosaurus has been documented." (why Tylosaurus rather than Hainosaurus, BTW?) This shows a cephalopod being eaten by Hainosaurus, which is rather confusing when the caption talks about an attack on Mosasaurus. I suspect this goes beyond one-step-removed-from-subject illustration (like the sperm whales) to two-step-removed, and would suggest leaving it out. -- Elmidae ( talk · contribs) 15:36, 9 May 2020 (UTC)
![]() | Hello Macrophyseter. After completing my preliminary copyedit I always ask questions about the article to ensure that my edit reflects the intended meaning and is clear in doing so. Please reply to each point by indenting below each one like you would a conversation; items will be struck out once they have been answered. Please ping me with {{ U}}, {{ ping}}, or {{ re}} as I have a lot of items on my watchlist. My copyediting process can be found here. — Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 19:33, 9 June 2020 (UTC) |
Traditional interpretations have estimated the maximum length of Mosasaurus to be up to 17.6 meters (58 ft), making it one of the largest mosasaurs of all time.Emphasis in original. Just to clarify, we are still talking about the genus, correct?
Four days after the conquest, the fossil was looted from Godding's possession by French soldiers due to its international scientific value under the orders of Kléber, carried out by political commissar Augustin-Lucie de Frécine.I'm a little iffy on this. The particle "de" is usually considered part of the surname. Do the sources refer to him as just "Frécine"?
During Faujas and his three colleagues' mission in 1795, the collections of Teylers Museum, despite being famous, were protected from confiscation.Emphasis added. Is this parenthetical thought necessary?
Hoffmann's identification as a crocodile was viewed by many at the time to be the most obvious answer [...]Emphasis added. When was this again?
It attracted the attention of more scientists and was referred to as le grand animal fossile des carrières de Maestricht, or the "great animal of Maastricht".Emphasis in original. I see the following footnote that describes the literal translation, but is it because the sources called it the "great animal of Maastricht"?
Even though the binomial system was well established at the time [...]Is there a reason why "binomial nomenclature" isn't used instead?
M. hoffmannii and M. missouriensis are considered to be the best-known and most studied species of the Mosasaurus genus, but other confirmed species have been described.Emphasis in original. I'm not sure that everything before the comma needs to be here, as the important idea is the other confirmed species. I'm guessing the original intent was for the article to transition from the two well-known species into other lesser-known species.
The teeth are currently in the National Museum of Natural History, France. One of the teeth, which is cataloged [...]Just to confirm, this article is written in American English?
Mosasaurus is a member of the tribe Mosasaurini, which was established in 1967. This placement is shared with the genera Eremiasaurus, Plotosaurus, and Moanasaurus.Emphasis in original. Is the Plotosaurus genus not in the Plotosaurini tribe?
Her examination concluded with the consideration of the four Pacific species being re-assignable to Monanasaurus or related genera, the consideration [...] and the confirmation of three valid species—M. hoffmannii, M. missouriensis, and M. lemonnieri.Emphasis in original. "Consideration" is appearing a lot in this paragraph segment. Would you be okay if I cut down on this?
The parietal foramen in Mosasaurus, which is associated with the parietal eye, is the smallest in the Mosasauridae family.Emphasis in original. Not required, but is there a measurement for this "smallest parietal foramen"?
The rib cages of Mosasaurus are unusually deep and form an almost perfect semicircle, giving it a barrel-shaped chest.Strong emphasis added and original italic emphasis preserved. Unusually deep compared to what?
The femur itself is about twice as long than it is wide and ends in a pair of distinct articular facets that meet at around 120°.Does the sentence say that the facets meet at a 120° angle?
Like all mosasaurs, the lower jaws of Mosasaurus were capable of adduction, allowing it to swing back and forth. In many mosasaur species such as Prognathodon [...]Emphasis in original. Prognathodon looks more like just a genus name. Is there a species name or would adding "sp." after it be appropriate?
Like all mosasaurs, Mosasaurus had four types of teeth that correspond to their placement at their namesake jaw bones.How are mosasaurs named after their jaw bones? I thought they were named because the first specimen was found in the Meuse River.
They are positioned more posteriorly than any other mosasaur and begin above the fourth or fifth maxillary teeth; this feature is only exceeded in Goronyosaurus.Strong emphasis added and original italic emphasis preserved. In what way do the nares exceed? In position?
Currently, there is only one known example of a Mosasaurus preserved with stomach contents: an exquisitely-preserved partial skeleton of a small M. missouriensis dated about 75 Ma.Emphasis in original. "Exquisitely" is a puffy word that isn't very encouraged on Wikipedia. Are you saying that it was well-preserved? Also, what is the Ma unit? I can't see where's it been defined earlier in the article. I assume it stands for "million years ago".
The presence of other large mosasaurs which specialized in robust prey coexisting with the species strongly suggests that M. missouriensis likely specialized more on cutting-based prey to ensure niche partitioning.What is "cutting-based"?
With its evidently savage lifestyle [...]Who said that? Sentence doesn't have a citation following it.
(if that were to be the case, those areas would have become necrotic due to a cutting off of blood supply.)It's an interesting fact, but is it necessary for the article?
From an ecological view, the two mosasaurs Mosasaurus and Prognathodon appear to be the dominant taxons in the entire seaway [...]Is there a reason they're not being referred to as "genera"?
At the time, Europe was a scattering of islands with most of the modern continental landmass being underwater.When? The Cretaceous period?
Sea turtles such as Allopleurodon hoffmanni and Glyptochelone suickerbuycki also dominated the area and other marine reptiles including undetermined elasmosaurs have been occasionally known.Strong emphasis added and original italic emphasis preserved. What does it mean to be "known"?
Other marine reptiles such as the marine monitor lizard Pachyvaranus and sea snake Palaeophis are known there.Emphasis in original. Again, what does it mean to be "known"?
Alternatively, a study using the MBT/CBT technique [...] around 66 Ma.Ma = million years ago?
Camper disagreed, and in 1786 he concluded that the remains were from that of an "unknown species of toothed whale".It's probably somewhere near this sentence, but the quote should probably be cited.
However, earlier in 1834, American naturalist Richard Harlan published a description of a partial fossil snout he obtained from a trader from the Rocky Mountains who found it in the same locality as the Goldfuss specimen.I sense that "however" is being used as a transition word, but I don't understand how the sentence contrasts with the previous one.
Second, the studies relied on a still unclean and shaky taxonomy of the Mosasaurus genus due to the lack of a clear holotype diagnosis, which sometimes led to uncomfortable paraphyletic results.Strong emphasis added and original italic emphasis preserved. What does it mean to have "uncomfortable" paraphyletic results?
If these injuries were indeed the result of an intraspecific attack, then it is notable that the majority of injuries concentrate in the skull.This sounds like a quotation that hasn't been given the proper attribution. Supposition like this comes very close to original research.
Large tooth marks on scutes of the giant sea turtle Allopleuron hoffmanni and fossils of re-healed fractured jaws in M. hoffmannii demonstrate the capabilities of the feeding savagery of Mosasaurus.Strong emphasis added and original italic emphasis preserved. "Savagery" sounds too dramatic; does it have a specific meaning that you had in mind?
At least two species of Mosasaurus have been described in Seymour Island, but remains are often very fragmented and described in open nomenclature.I'm not sure how the "but" plays into this sentence. Does being "described in open nomenclature" prevent it from being described? What difference is there?
*
However, it has been pointed out that measuring δ13C levels may not be the most accurate method of determining the preferred habitat of Mosasaurus.
Emphasis in original. Who pointed that out? Sentence is also uncited.
By the end of the Cretaceous, mosasaurs like Mosasaurus were at a height of radiation [...]Emphasis in original. What does "radiation" mean in this context?
Vertebra fossils from the layer were found with post-mortem fractures and the deposition of the layer itself was likely the result of a tsunamtite [...]Emphasis added. Did you mean "tsunamite"?
[...] the impact also had subsequent environmental reverberations that led to a collapse of marine food webs.Like what?
One enigmatic occurrence is of Mosasaurus fossils found in the Hornerstown Formation, a deposit that is typically dated to be from the Paleocene Danian age [...]Emphasis in original. Why is the occurrence "enigmatic"?
Another explanation suggests that the Main Fossiliferous Layer is a Maastrichtian time-averaged remanie deposit [...]Emphasis added. Is there a reason "remanie" is being used and not "fossil"?
[...] meaning that it originated from a Cretaceous deposit with little sedimentation and was subject to gradual winnowing into the overlying deposits.Verbiage is weird. Will look at it on another pass.
The features of teeth in Mosasaurus vary across species, but characteristics that unify the genus include highly prismatic surfaces (prism-shaped enamel circumference), two opposite cutting edges, and occupation within the cutting guild of mosasaur dentition.Strong emphasis added and original italic emphasis preserved. I can't find a Wikipedia article on the subject; could you define this?
M. hoffmannii and Prognathodon sectorius were the dominant species in this province.Strong emphasis added and original italic emphasis preserved. What is this geographical distinction? Where does it come from?
Other instances of the
province talk. [Resolved]
|
---|
|
The most complete skeleton of Mosasaurus has seven vertebrae in the neck, thirty-eight vertebrae in the back, eight vertebrae in the pygals, and sixty-eight caudal vertebrae in the tail.I understand you're trying to simplify a lot of unfamiliar terms for non-expert readers, but I think it's probably better to use their scientific names (e.g., thoracic, cervical, etc.) and link to their articles. As it is right now the list is inconsistent: "thoracic" and "cervical" are simplified and linked; "pygal" does not have a Wikipedia entry, but could benefit from a definition as the term seems to be specific to certain taxons like Mosasaurus; and "caudal" is named and given its definition, making it redundant.
The following cladogram on the left (Topology A) is modified from a 2017 multi-method phylogenetic study by scientists led by Tiago Simões using the traditional method of maximum parsimony.Did topology A or the 2017 phylogenetic study use maximum parsimony? Maybe both?
A more recently developing approach is through a biogeochemical one, an early method being the measurement of δ13C levels in the enamel of Mosasaurus teeth.It feels like this sentence is trying to talk about two different techniques: one old, one new. How do they relate to one another?
Looking forward to your answers! — Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 19:33, 9 June 2020 (UTC)
Update: The requester has been inactive for a few days, so I'm going to consider the request complete. Macrophyseter, if you feel like this article could be worked on further, please answer the questions above and ping me. Thanks! — Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 21:18, 10 June 2020 (UTC)
Update: Did another copyedit with more points being addressed. I think you may have left a thought half-finished in regards to naming the bones in the genus' vertebral column. — Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 23:49, 14 June 2020 (UTC)
Hi Macrophyseter, good to hear from you again. I made some edits to the "Classification" section. Some questions:
Lee also resurrected the Pythonomorpha (which had long gone out of use) and redefined it to unify the Mosasauroidea and Serpentes under one clade.By context I'm guessing Pythonomorpha is an order?
The proposition of a snake relationship was spearheaded by Cope, who first conceived such a hypothesis in 1869 by proposing that mosasaurs, which he classified under a clade called the Pythonomorpha, had a sister relationship with snakes.You want to change "a clade" into "an order"? — Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 16:04, 1 July 2020 (UTC)
[...] it closely integrated morphological, molecular, and paleontological data in a large dataset to overcome previous conflicts, which found that there were many hidden morphological support for molecular results including such that recovered the Mosasauria as a sister clade to the Serpentes.Is there another word for support? Something similar to "findings" might work?
— Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 04:37, 1 July 2020 (UTC)
GA toolbox |
---|
Reviewing |
Reviewer: FunkMonk ( talk · contribs) 15:48, 24 May 2021 (UTC)
May be of interest vis-a-vis footnote b... [5] Lythronaxargestes ( talk | contribs) 19:45, 1 February 2024 (UTC)
Although I recognize the undeniable editing work that this article offers in terms of description and additional information (to point that I had to use some to translate this article into French), I still have a small problem in regarding certain sources. Some of them are articles or even theses which can contain more than 100 pages, and I find it very frustrating that the sfn model is not used to show which page a particular statement comes from. This is something that I was able to avoid with my articles on Inostrancevia and Kronosaurus for example, so it is entirely possible to do it on Mosasaurus too I think. Amirani1746 ( talk) 06:28, 18 May 2024 (UTC)
![]() | This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (color, defense, traveled) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus. |
![]() | Mosasaurus is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so. | |||||||||||||||
![]() | This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on June 10, 2022. | |||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Current status: Featured article |
![]() | Mosasaurus ( final version) received a peer review by Wikipedia editors, which on 25 November 2020 was archived. It may contain ideas you can use to improve this article. |
![]() | This ![]() It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Why does this page exist? Mosasaurus should redirect to this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosasaur
Either that, or "mosasaur" should be changed to the cprrect "mosasaurus".
Habib-- 83.72.194.208 15:36, 29 April 2006 (UTC)
Image:Prim mosasaur.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot 17:01, 24 October 2007 (UTC)
Image:Prim mosasaur.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot 19:12, 24 October 2007 (UTC)
Isn't the number of species in the taxobox a little improbable? Never have I seen so many recognized species (not even with Iguanodon!) for one genus. Crimsonraptor ( talk) 00:20, 5 November 2010 (UTC)
Not sure why, but the species Mosasaurus conodon is never mentioned on here. I'm a student at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, where a huge skeleton of M. conodon is mounted in our museum and have found numerous references to M. conodon elsewhere. Yet I cannot find it listed anywhere on Wikipedia. What is the deal with this species? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.123.150.2 ( talk) 06:31, 11 October 2011 (UTC) --ETA: I have since found via the Paleobiology Database that the source of the name is Cope (1881), and that it has also been suggested as belonging to Clidastes. The name doesn't show up in the Clidastes article either though. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.123.150.2 ( talk) 06:37, 11 October 2011 (UTC)
As a side note, Mosasaurus gigantea (Soemmering 1816) is a new combination by Cope (1869) for Lacerta gigantea (which is now the type species of the metriorhynchid genus Geosaurus Cuvier 1824) based on Soemmering's mistaken belief that Geosaurus belonged to the same taxon as Mosasaurus (see Young and Andrade 2009 for the taxonomic history of Geosaurus giganteus). Because Geosaurus is a metriorhynchid and not a mosasaur, Young and Andrade (2009) have advised the exclusion of L. gigantea and M. gigantea from synonymy lists for Mosasaurus hoffmani. For more information on Mosasaurus conodon, see the monumental monograph on North American mosasaurs by Russell (1967). Mosasaurus johnsoni (Mehl 1930) is a new combination for the Mexican mosasaur Amphekepubis johnsoni Mehl 1930, Mosasaurus poultneyi Martin, 1953 is a nomen ex dissertationae, Mosasaurus neovidii Meyer 1845 is a junior synonym of Mosasaurus missouriensis, and M. copeanus is now a junior synonym of Plioplatecarpus depressus (Cope 1869).
Cope CD. 1869. On the reptilian orders, Pythonomorpha and Streptosauria. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History 12: 250–266. 68.4.61.168 ( talk) 18:24, 14 July 2012 (UTC)Vahe Demirjian
The story of how these bones were studied in Haarlem is pretty interesting, and Napoleon wanted to take it to Paris. In the spirit of the current Wikipedia:GLAM/Teylers/Multilingual Challenge it would be great to promote this article to B status. Does anyone know how? Jane ( talk) 18:40, 28 February 2012 (UTC)
In case someone here doesn't know, Lingham-Soliar (1995) is the source of the 18m Mosasaurus and this is how he came up with that estimate, from page 156:
The entire lower jaw is reliably estimated at 1600 mm. Using a 1: 10 head to body ratio (see Russell 1967, p. 210 for M. maximus) the length of the whole animal is estimated at 17.6 m, making it the largest marine reptile known.
Can anyone spot the mistake? 1.6m is 10% of 17.6m? really? not to mention that Russell (1967) suggestion of a 1:10 ratio in large mosasaurs is without basis, according to his own tables such ratio is only observed in the short snouted Platecarpus, with ratios of ~1:7-1:8 observed in the other mosasaurs, with a tendency for relatively larger heads at larger body sizes. This is further supported by Lindgren (2005) downsizing of Hainosaurus bernardi at 12.2m with a 1.6m skull (always <90% of lower jaw length). As far as I know this mistake has not been recognized in the literature and neither has Russell's 1:10 ratio been denounced as inaccurate so my suggestion is adding the quote above (followed by a [sic]) so readers can spot the mistake for themselves... maybe. Mike.BRZ ( talk) 17:31, 13 December 2015 (UTC)
@ Levi bernardo: According to the text, the size of the animal was at most 18 meters. Is your scale not a bit generous? Have you used any sources for this image?–Totie ( talk) 03:11, 4 March 2016 (UTC)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 10 external links on Mosasaurus. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
This message was posted before February 2018.
After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than
regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors
have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the
RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{
source check}}
(last update: 5 June 2024).
Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot ( Report bug) 14:07, 2 January 2018 (UTC)
Table 3 on page 99 of the Carnegie Institution of Washington 1954 Year Book at https://archive.org/details/yearbookcarne53195354carn (historically, one of the earliest reports of original biological material in Cretaceous, etc. strata) presents "Mosasaurus (dinosaur)" alongside Stegosaur (dinosaur), Mesohippus (prehistoric horse), etc. I'm wondering for the History of Discovery section, if anyone knows if this was a "typo" at Carnegie, or if the Mosasaur was at one time considered a dinosaur by leading scientists (including P.H, Abelson, who wrote that Paleochemistry section)? Bob Enyart, Denver KGOV radio host ( talk) 20:47, 30 March 2018 (UTC)
This is a shout out to someone who actually studies this topic.
If there are skeletons, aren't there projections of weight?
How does this size, as calculated from said skeletons, compare to a whale, to a T-Rex, to a shark, ... ? Wonderfully encyclopedic would be an illustration showing larger and smaller animals. 76.185.10.9 ( talk) 01:35, 12 May 2018 (UTC)
Is the picture accurate? To me it looks like a whale, which is a mammal.
82.72.139.164 ( talk) 07:16, 22 May 2019 (UTC)
The picture in the description section has one eating a theropod, even though that's not listed in it's prey list. Can the list either be updated, or a better picture be sourced? 194.28.124.52 ( talk) 02:46, 10 January 2020 (UTC)
Amazing expansion! But I'm not a fan of the image titled "A lethal attack on a Mosasaurus by Tylosaurus has been documented." (why Tylosaurus rather than Hainosaurus, BTW?) This shows a cephalopod being eaten by Hainosaurus, which is rather confusing when the caption talks about an attack on Mosasaurus. I suspect this goes beyond one-step-removed-from-subject illustration (like the sperm whales) to two-step-removed, and would suggest leaving it out. -- Elmidae ( talk · contribs) 15:36, 9 May 2020 (UTC)
![]() | Hello Macrophyseter. After completing my preliminary copyedit I always ask questions about the article to ensure that my edit reflects the intended meaning and is clear in doing so. Please reply to each point by indenting below each one like you would a conversation; items will be struck out once they have been answered. Please ping me with {{ U}}, {{ ping}}, or {{ re}} as I have a lot of items on my watchlist. My copyediting process can be found here. — Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 19:33, 9 June 2020 (UTC) |
Traditional interpretations have estimated the maximum length of Mosasaurus to be up to 17.6 meters (58 ft), making it one of the largest mosasaurs of all time.Emphasis in original. Just to clarify, we are still talking about the genus, correct?
Four days after the conquest, the fossil was looted from Godding's possession by French soldiers due to its international scientific value under the orders of Kléber, carried out by political commissar Augustin-Lucie de Frécine.I'm a little iffy on this. The particle "de" is usually considered part of the surname. Do the sources refer to him as just "Frécine"?
During Faujas and his three colleagues' mission in 1795, the collections of Teylers Museum, despite being famous, were protected from confiscation.Emphasis added. Is this parenthetical thought necessary?
Hoffmann's identification as a crocodile was viewed by many at the time to be the most obvious answer [...]Emphasis added. When was this again?
It attracted the attention of more scientists and was referred to as le grand animal fossile des carrières de Maestricht, or the "great animal of Maastricht".Emphasis in original. I see the following footnote that describes the literal translation, but is it because the sources called it the "great animal of Maastricht"?
Even though the binomial system was well established at the time [...]Is there a reason why "binomial nomenclature" isn't used instead?
M. hoffmannii and M. missouriensis are considered to be the best-known and most studied species of the Mosasaurus genus, but other confirmed species have been described.Emphasis in original. I'm not sure that everything before the comma needs to be here, as the important idea is the other confirmed species. I'm guessing the original intent was for the article to transition from the two well-known species into other lesser-known species.
The teeth are currently in the National Museum of Natural History, France. One of the teeth, which is cataloged [...]Just to confirm, this article is written in American English?
Mosasaurus is a member of the tribe Mosasaurini, which was established in 1967. This placement is shared with the genera Eremiasaurus, Plotosaurus, and Moanasaurus.Emphasis in original. Is the Plotosaurus genus not in the Plotosaurini tribe?
Her examination concluded with the consideration of the four Pacific species being re-assignable to Monanasaurus or related genera, the consideration [...] and the confirmation of three valid species—M. hoffmannii, M. missouriensis, and M. lemonnieri.Emphasis in original. "Consideration" is appearing a lot in this paragraph segment. Would you be okay if I cut down on this?
The parietal foramen in Mosasaurus, which is associated with the parietal eye, is the smallest in the Mosasauridae family.Emphasis in original. Not required, but is there a measurement for this "smallest parietal foramen"?
The rib cages of Mosasaurus are unusually deep and form an almost perfect semicircle, giving it a barrel-shaped chest.Strong emphasis added and original italic emphasis preserved. Unusually deep compared to what?
The femur itself is about twice as long than it is wide and ends in a pair of distinct articular facets that meet at around 120°.Does the sentence say that the facets meet at a 120° angle?
Like all mosasaurs, the lower jaws of Mosasaurus were capable of adduction, allowing it to swing back and forth. In many mosasaur species such as Prognathodon [...]Emphasis in original. Prognathodon looks more like just a genus name. Is there a species name or would adding "sp." after it be appropriate?
Like all mosasaurs, Mosasaurus had four types of teeth that correspond to their placement at their namesake jaw bones.How are mosasaurs named after their jaw bones? I thought they were named because the first specimen was found in the Meuse River.
They are positioned more posteriorly than any other mosasaur and begin above the fourth or fifth maxillary teeth; this feature is only exceeded in Goronyosaurus.Strong emphasis added and original italic emphasis preserved. In what way do the nares exceed? In position?
Currently, there is only one known example of a Mosasaurus preserved with stomach contents: an exquisitely-preserved partial skeleton of a small M. missouriensis dated about 75 Ma.Emphasis in original. "Exquisitely" is a puffy word that isn't very encouraged on Wikipedia. Are you saying that it was well-preserved? Also, what is the Ma unit? I can't see where's it been defined earlier in the article. I assume it stands for "million years ago".
The presence of other large mosasaurs which specialized in robust prey coexisting with the species strongly suggests that M. missouriensis likely specialized more on cutting-based prey to ensure niche partitioning.What is "cutting-based"?
With its evidently savage lifestyle [...]Who said that? Sentence doesn't have a citation following it.
(if that were to be the case, those areas would have become necrotic due to a cutting off of blood supply.)It's an interesting fact, but is it necessary for the article?
From an ecological view, the two mosasaurs Mosasaurus and Prognathodon appear to be the dominant taxons in the entire seaway [...]Is there a reason they're not being referred to as "genera"?
At the time, Europe was a scattering of islands with most of the modern continental landmass being underwater.When? The Cretaceous period?
Sea turtles such as Allopleurodon hoffmanni and Glyptochelone suickerbuycki also dominated the area and other marine reptiles including undetermined elasmosaurs have been occasionally known.Strong emphasis added and original italic emphasis preserved. What does it mean to be "known"?
Other marine reptiles such as the marine monitor lizard Pachyvaranus and sea snake Palaeophis are known there.Emphasis in original. Again, what does it mean to be "known"?
Alternatively, a study using the MBT/CBT technique [...] around 66 Ma.Ma = million years ago?
Camper disagreed, and in 1786 he concluded that the remains were from that of an "unknown species of toothed whale".It's probably somewhere near this sentence, but the quote should probably be cited.
However, earlier in 1834, American naturalist Richard Harlan published a description of a partial fossil snout he obtained from a trader from the Rocky Mountains who found it in the same locality as the Goldfuss specimen.I sense that "however" is being used as a transition word, but I don't understand how the sentence contrasts with the previous one.
Second, the studies relied on a still unclean and shaky taxonomy of the Mosasaurus genus due to the lack of a clear holotype diagnosis, which sometimes led to uncomfortable paraphyletic results.Strong emphasis added and original italic emphasis preserved. What does it mean to have "uncomfortable" paraphyletic results?
If these injuries were indeed the result of an intraspecific attack, then it is notable that the majority of injuries concentrate in the skull.This sounds like a quotation that hasn't been given the proper attribution. Supposition like this comes very close to original research.
Large tooth marks on scutes of the giant sea turtle Allopleuron hoffmanni and fossils of re-healed fractured jaws in M. hoffmannii demonstrate the capabilities of the feeding savagery of Mosasaurus.Strong emphasis added and original italic emphasis preserved. "Savagery" sounds too dramatic; does it have a specific meaning that you had in mind?
At least two species of Mosasaurus have been described in Seymour Island, but remains are often very fragmented and described in open nomenclature.I'm not sure how the "but" plays into this sentence. Does being "described in open nomenclature" prevent it from being described? What difference is there?
*
However, it has been pointed out that measuring δ13C levels may not be the most accurate method of determining the preferred habitat of Mosasaurus.
Emphasis in original. Who pointed that out? Sentence is also uncited.
By the end of the Cretaceous, mosasaurs like Mosasaurus were at a height of radiation [...]Emphasis in original. What does "radiation" mean in this context?
Vertebra fossils from the layer were found with post-mortem fractures and the deposition of the layer itself was likely the result of a tsunamtite [...]Emphasis added. Did you mean "tsunamite"?
[...] the impact also had subsequent environmental reverberations that led to a collapse of marine food webs.Like what?
One enigmatic occurrence is of Mosasaurus fossils found in the Hornerstown Formation, a deposit that is typically dated to be from the Paleocene Danian age [...]Emphasis in original. Why is the occurrence "enigmatic"?
Another explanation suggests that the Main Fossiliferous Layer is a Maastrichtian time-averaged remanie deposit [...]Emphasis added. Is there a reason "remanie" is being used and not "fossil"?
[...] meaning that it originated from a Cretaceous deposit with little sedimentation and was subject to gradual winnowing into the overlying deposits.Verbiage is weird. Will look at it on another pass.
The features of teeth in Mosasaurus vary across species, but characteristics that unify the genus include highly prismatic surfaces (prism-shaped enamel circumference), two opposite cutting edges, and occupation within the cutting guild of mosasaur dentition.Strong emphasis added and original italic emphasis preserved. I can't find a Wikipedia article on the subject; could you define this?
M. hoffmannii and Prognathodon sectorius were the dominant species in this province.Strong emphasis added and original italic emphasis preserved. What is this geographical distinction? Where does it come from?
Other instances of the
province talk. [Resolved]
|
---|
|
The most complete skeleton of Mosasaurus has seven vertebrae in the neck, thirty-eight vertebrae in the back, eight vertebrae in the pygals, and sixty-eight caudal vertebrae in the tail.I understand you're trying to simplify a lot of unfamiliar terms for non-expert readers, but I think it's probably better to use their scientific names (e.g., thoracic, cervical, etc.) and link to their articles. As it is right now the list is inconsistent: "thoracic" and "cervical" are simplified and linked; "pygal" does not have a Wikipedia entry, but could benefit from a definition as the term seems to be specific to certain taxons like Mosasaurus; and "caudal" is named and given its definition, making it redundant.
The following cladogram on the left (Topology A) is modified from a 2017 multi-method phylogenetic study by scientists led by Tiago Simões using the traditional method of maximum parsimony.Did topology A or the 2017 phylogenetic study use maximum parsimony? Maybe both?
A more recently developing approach is through a biogeochemical one, an early method being the measurement of δ13C levels in the enamel of Mosasaurus teeth.It feels like this sentence is trying to talk about two different techniques: one old, one new. How do they relate to one another?
Looking forward to your answers! — Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 19:33, 9 June 2020 (UTC)
Update: The requester has been inactive for a few days, so I'm going to consider the request complete. Macrophyseter, if you feel like this article could be worked on further, please answer the questions above and ping me. Thanks! — Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 21:18, 10 June 2020 (UTC)
Update: Did another copyedit with more points being addressed. I think you may have left a thought half-finished in regards to naming the bones in the genus' vertebral column. — Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 23:49, 14 June 2020 (UTC)
Hi Macrophyseter, good to hear from you again. I made some edits to the "Classification" section. Some questions:
Lee also resurrected the Pythonomorpha (which had long gone out of use) and redefined it to unify the Mosasauroidea and Serpentes under one clade.By context I'm guessing Pythonomorpha is an order?
The proposition of a snake relationship was spearheaded by Cope, who first conceived such a hypothesis in 1869 by proposing that mosasaurs, which he classified under a clade called the Pythonomorpha, had a sister relationship with snakes.You want to change "a clade" into "an order"? — Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 16:04, 1 July 2020 (UTC)
[...] it closely integrated morphological, molecular, and paleontological data in a large dataset to overcome previous conflicts, which found that there were many hidden morphological support for molecular results including such that recovered the Mosasauria as a sister clade to the Serpentes.Is there another word for support? Something similar to "findings" might work?
— Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 04:37, 1 July 2020 (UTC)
GA toolbox |
---|
Reviewing |
Reviewer: FunkMonk ( talk · contribs) 15:48, 24 May 2021 (UTC)
May be of interest vis-a-vis footnote b... [5] Lythronaxargestes ( talk | contribs) 19:45, 1 February 2024 (UTC)
Although I recognize the undeniable editing work that this article offers in terms of description and additional information (to point that I had to use some to translate this article into French), I still have a small problem in regarding certain sources. Some of them are articles or even theses which can contain more than 100 pages, and I find it very frustrating that the sfn model is not used to show which page a particular statement comes from. This is something that I was able to avoid with my articles on Inostrancevia and Kronosaurus for example, so it is entirely possible to do it on Mosasaurus too I think. Amirani1746 ( talk) 06:28, 18 May 2024 (UTC)