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Feeding the Mechanical Mosasaur: what did Carinodens eat?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2016

A.S. Schulp
A.S. Schulp*
Affiliation:
Natuurhistorisch Museum Maastricht, De Bosquetplein 6, NL-6211 KJ Maastricht, the Netherlands. Email: [email protected] Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands
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Abstract

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Carinodens is among the smallest known mosasaurs, and one of the most elusive at that. This enigmatic taxon is known from only two dentary fragments and just over a dozen of isolated teeth. Based on this material, an attempt is made to improve our understanding of the dietary habits of this mosasaur, by comparing tooth and jaw morphology to extant analogues, and by testing a biomechanical model with ‘feeding’ experiments using an artificial mosasaur jaw equipped with a force gauge. Carinodens appears to have been a durophagous mosasaur, capable of crushing small molluscs and arthropods, although its dietary habits may not necessarily have been limited to hard-shelled food.

Keywords

biomechanicsCarinodensCretaceousdietmosasaurs
Type
Research Article
Information
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences , Volume 84 , Special Issue 3: Proceedings of the First Mosasaur Meeting , September 2005 , pp. 345 - 357
Copyright
Copyright © Stichting Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 2005

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