Re: GLOBIDENTINES

[Danvarner@aol.com]

In a message dated 12/3/99 3:31:06 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
darren.naish@port.ac.uk writes:

<< Nick Longrich wrote...
 
 > I saw something pretty cool the other day- a mosasaur called
 > "Globicidens" or something like that. It had these absolutely 
 > massive jaws-no, I mean really heavy- and teeth like one-inch 
 > ball-bearings, sometimes with a tiny nipple in the middle. 

     The closely-related Prognathodon is very similar. A newly prepared skull 
at the South Dakota School of Mines and Tech answers to the same 
description--heavy is the operative word. The teeth, although pointed, are 
very stout.
 
 _Globidens_. A very special, malacophagous (=durophagous) mosasaur 
 that probably fed on bivalves.
    -snip-
 Nick has a point - most other 
 durophagores have flattened teeth that form a 'pavement'. 
  >>
    There is some variety of tooth morphology in Globidens. I collected a 
fragmentary jaw that I suspect is Globidens with a flattened tooth that 
looked like a bottle cap. Dan Varner.