Clidastes

Prophyton live reconstruction of Clidastes

• North America (Alabama, Kansas, South Dakota)

Clidastes is a genus of mosasaur from the Early Cretaceous.

The genus name ( gr kleidoo " block ", " block " - branch "a person who performs an activity " ) chose Cope 1868 in his first description because of the pivot joint of the vertebrae from Zygosphen and Zygantrum, which is typical for snakes and the vertical deflection the spine helps limit.

Features

The characteristics of Clidastes vote among all mosasaurs most clearly consistent with those of terrestrial Squamata. With a maximum length of four meters, it was one of the smaller mosasaurs. His cock reached only 42 % of the body length, making it the shortest relative to body length. At the top of its last part there was a well-developed, low, triangular tail fin. The skull was short, he had more teeth than any other mosasaurs. His bone density was low.

A phylogenetic analysis shows that Clidastes is the sister species of a common taxon of Plotosaurus and mosasaur.

Way of life

Maybe he lived in the Western Interior Seaway coastal and fed on small fish and cephalopods. Shark teeth in fossils of Clidastes show that he was chased by sharks. In a fossil of Tylosaurus proriger, which was found in South Dakota, there was a gefressener Clidastes.