Plioplatecarpus

Fossil of Plioplatecarpus houseaui in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.

• Europe ( Netherlands, Sweden)
• North America
• Africa (Congo)

Plioplatecarpus is a genus of mosasaur from the Upper Cretaceous time. The genus was published in the mid- Campanian and possibly lived up to the end of the Cretaceous. He is closely related to the temporally preceding genus Platecarpus, which became extinct in the early Campanian before about 83 million years ago.

The genus was erected in 1882 by Louis Dollo after finding incomplete fossils in Europe. The European species has been described as Plioplatecarpus marshi. The first possibly belonging to the genus American fossil material comes from the Navesink Formation in New Jersey and was first described by Cope as mosasaurus depressus. Subsequent discoveries in North America (New Jersey, Mississippi, Alabama, South Dakota, North Dakota, Saskatchewan ) have been described as Plioplatecarpus primaevus.

In 1995, a very large Plioplatecarpus fossil was found in North Dakota, which is 25 % longer than the previous findings and is 7.5 meters long. It is obtained at 70%. Only the fins, some ribs, pelvis, and parts of the tail are absent. The skull has a length of one meter.

Plioplatecarpus is the only Mosasauriergattung, from the fossils of fetuses were found an important clue that they were viviparous.

The skull of Plioplatecarpus is compared to other mosasaurs relatively short, the eyes are relatively larger. The number of slender, strongly curved back teeth in the jaw is reduced to twelve or less. Plioplatecarpus has only 29 vertebrae in front of the pelvic vertebrae. The shoulder blade is greater than the coracoid. Plioplatecarpus had the largest brain of all the mosasaurs.

The Canadian Plioplatecarpus specimen was found in freshwater deposits and could be an indication that populated late mosasaurs freshwaters and entered into competition with crocodiles.