Reconstructed soft-tissues of the craniocervical region of dyrosaurids are analysed under functional aspects to determine their prey-catching capabilities. Jaw adductors and jaw abductors are enlarged and possess longer muscle fibres that are increased by a long retroarticular process. This muscle enlargement resulted in a more forceful and quicker contraction, effective for movement of the long rostrum. The occipital joint and the cervical ribs, the long retroarticular process and the high cervical neural spines of dyrosaurids suggest a higher dorsoventral flexibility of the craniocervical region, whereas lateromedial flexibility was reduced. The epaxial muscles of the neck and scapular muscles were enlarged, and the supraspinal ligament most likely fanned out into a nuchal ligament. Suspension of the neck and skull of dyrosaurids was achieved by the scapular muscles, dorsal neck ligaments and epaxial muscles, whereas ventral bracing was reduced. From the reconstructed specializations of the feeding apparatus, an enhanced capability for movements in the vertical plane is postulated for dyrosaurids, together with reduced lateral movements of the craniocervical region. Besides laterally directed strokes for fish-catching, behaviours such as poking in the substrate, bottom feeding, multidirectional prey-catching strokes and improvement of diving skills were options for dyrosaurids and suggest a possible expansion of their diet. The longirostrine skull limited prey size, but the dentition allowed shelly prey items. The specialization of the food-capturing system in dyrosaurids and the resulting expansion of their food spectrum is one possible explanation for their evolutionary success, including their undisturbed transition of the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary.

New thermochronological data show that rapid Middle Miocene exhumation occurred synchronously along the Bitlis suture zone and in the southeastern Black Sea region, arguably as a far-field effect of the Arabia–Eurasia indentation. Collision-related strain focused preferentially along the rheological boundary between the multideformed continental lithosphere of northeastern Anatolia and the strong (quasi)oceanic lithosphere of the eastern Black Sea. Deformation in the southeastern Black Sea region ceased in late Middle Miocene time, when coherent westward motion of Anatolia and the corresponding activation of the North and East Anatolian Fault systems mechanically decoupled portions of the foreland from the Arabia–Eurasia collision zone.

The Redwater Shale Member (Oxfordian) of the Sundance Formation was deposited in the foreland basin of the Cordillera during the last and largest marine transgression of the Jurassic in North America. One ichthyosaur (Ophthalmosaurus natans), two cryptocleidoid plesiosaurs (Tatenectes laramiensis, Pantosaurus striatus) and one pliosauromorph (Megalneusaurus rex) are known from the Redwater Shale Member. Ichthyosaurs are much more abundant than plesiosaurs, making up almost 60% of the fauna. No actinopterygian fish have been found, although four species have been identified from the lower Sundance Formation. At least one hybodont shark and one neoselachian are known from rare isolated teeth. The main food source for the marine reptiles was belemnoids, as indicated by preserved gut contents for all four species. In comparison, the better known and slightly older Peterborough Member of the Oxford Clay Formation of England, has a much higher taxonomic and ecological diversity, especially in the plesiosaurs, marine crocodiles, and fish. The lower diversity in the Redwater Shale Member probably reflects a much lower primary productivity in the Sundance Sea, as well as restricted migration from the open ocean to the north.

Despite being known for over 155 years, the Late Cretaceous marine amniotes of the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin in the Czech Republic have received little recent attention. These fossils are however significant because they record a diverse range of taxa from an incompletely known geological interval: the Turonian. The presently identifiable remains include isolated bones and teeth, together with a few disarticulated skeletons. The most productive stratigraphical unit is the Lower–Middle Turonian Bílá Hora Formation, which has yielded small dermochelyoid sea turtles, a possible polycotylid plesiosaur and elements compatible with the giant predatory pliosauromorph Polyptychodon. A huge protostegid, together with an enigmatic cheloniid-like turtle, Polyptychodon-like dentigerous components, an elasmosaurid and a tethysaurine mosasauroid have also been found in strata corresponding to the Middle–Upper Turonian Jizera Formation and Upper Turonian – Coniacian Teplice Formation. The compositional character of the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin fauna is compatible with coeval assemblages from elsewhere along the peri-Tethyan shelf of Europe, and incorporates the globally terminal Middle–Upper Turonian occurrence of pliosauromorph megacarnivores, which were seemingly replaced by mosasauroids later in the Cretaceous.