Re: Mosasaurus

[Tom Holtz <tholtz@geochange.er.usgs.gov>]

>   Time for Jeff Poling's Stupid Dinosaur Trivia Question of the Week.
>
>   This week it is a request for phylogenic and temporal information about
>Mosasaurus.

I'll do without the "Class, Order, Family" ranks, if you don't mind ;-)

Reptilia
        Diapsida
                Lepidosauromorpha       (lizards and all closer to lizards
than to birds or crocs)
                        Lepidosauria          (tuataras + "lizards"
[including snakes])
                                Squamata        ("lizards" [see above])
                                        Varanoidea      (the monitor/gila
monster group)
                                                Mosasauridae
                                                        Mosasaurinae

>    This species was swimming around from ??? [don't know off hand - sometime
>in the late Late K] mya to 65 mya.

The type, M. hoffmani, was found in Maastricht (hence the name, Mosasaurus
= Lizard of Mosa (the Latin name for the Maas River), in the type
Maastrichtian, just a few meters from the K-T boundary.

                                
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.                                   
tholtz@geochange.er.usgs.gov
Vertebrate Paleontologist                           Phone:      703-648-5280
U.S. Geological Survey                                FAX:      703-648-5420
Branch of Paleontology & Stratigraphy
MS 970 National Center
Reston, VA  22092
U.S.A.