A new species of Pluridens (Mosasauridae: Halisaurinae) from the upper Campanian of Southern Nigeria |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Prehistoric Museum, Utah State University Eastern, Price, UT 84501, USA;2. University of Colorado Museum, Boulder, CO 80309, USA;3. Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, Norman, OK 73072, USA;1. Department of Geology and Palaeontology, Natural History Museum, Vienna, Burgring 7, A-1010 Vienna, Austria;2. Comenius University, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Geology and Palaeontology, Ilkovičova 6, SVK-842 15, Bratislava, Slovakia;3. Department of Geology, University of Leicester, LE1 7RH Leicester, United Kingdom;4. Centre de recherche sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements, MNHN, SU, UPMC, CNRS, 8 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France;5. Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon: Terre, Planète, Environnement, UMR CNRS 5276 (CNRS, ENS, Université Lyon1), Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 69364 Lyon Cedex 07, France;6. Laboratoire de Sédimentologie et Biostratigraphie, Département de Géologie, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, Senegal;1. Key Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrate, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100044, China;2. Palaeontological Research and Education Centre, Mahasarakham University, Kantarawichai, Mahasarakham 44150, Thailand;3. Geological Museum of Heilongjiang, Harbin 150090, China;1. Centro de Geologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa (FCUL), Edificio C6, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisbon, Portugal;2. Grupo de Biología Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, UNED, Paseo Senda del Rey, 9, 28040 Madrid, Spain;3. Fundación Conjunto Paleontológico de Teruel-Dinópolis (Museo Aragonés de Paleontología), Avda. Sagunto s/n, E-44002 Teruel, Spain;1. Instituto Patagónico de Geología y Paleontología (IPGP–CONICET), Boulevard Almirante Brown 2915, 9120, Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina;2. Laboratorio de Paleovertebrados, Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco, C.C. 360, 9000, Comodoro Rivadavia, Chubut, Argentina;3. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología, Universidad Nacional de Río Negro, Museo ‘Carlos Ameghino’, Belgrano 1700, Paraje Pichi Ruca (prédio Marabunta), 8300, Cipolletti, Río Negro, Argentina |
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| Abstract: | The Upper Cretaceous of Africa has produced a diverse fauna of mosasaurs, including the highly specialized, long-jawed Pluridens. The type of Pluridens walkeri comes from the Maastrichtian Farin-Doutchi Formation of Niger, with a second, referred specimen coming from the Campanian section of the Campanian-Maastrichtian Nkporo Shale near Calabar, in southern Nigeria. Comparisons of this referred specimen with the holotype suggest that it represents a distinct and more primitive species. The Calabar jaw resembles P. walkeri in being long and narrow anteriorly with a shallow subdental shelf, and in having small, numerous, recurved teeth with medially positioned replacement pits. However, it lacks many of the derived features that characterize Pluridens walkeri, such as the extremely long and straight jaw, the extreme lateral protrusion and subcircular section of the dentary, strong transverse expansion of the dental thecae, and extreme reduction and increase in number of the teeth. The Calabar Pluridens is therefore referred to a new species, Pluridens calabaria. Following recent studies, Pluridens is considered to represent a highly derived member of the Halisaurinae. The marked differences between the Campanian and Maastrichtian species of the genus underscore the rapid pace of mosasaur evolution during the Cretaceous. |
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| Keywords: | Squamata Mosasauridae Halisaurinae Africa |
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