A mosasaur,cf. Plotosaurus,from the upper Maastrichtian Quiriquina Formation in Central Chile |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe, Erbprinzenstraße 13, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany;2. Natura Docet Wonderryck Twente, Oldenzaalsestraat 39, 7591 GL Denekamp, The Netherlands;3. Institut für Geowissenschaften, Universität Heidelberg, INF 234, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany;4. Unidad de Paleontología y Estratigrafía, Sección de Geología Regional, Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería, Tiltil 1993, Santiago, Chile;5. Departamento Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad de Concepción, 160 C Concepción, Chile;1. Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA;2. Geology Department, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA;1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada;2. Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada;1. Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali, Alma Mater Studiorum, Università di Bologna, Via Zamboni 67, 40126 Bologna, Italy;2. Museo Geologico Giovanni Capellini, Alma Mater Studiorum, Università di Bologna, Via Zamboni 67, 40126 Bologna, Italy;3. Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'' Ambiente, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60131 Ancona, Italy |
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| Abstract: | Here we describe a mosasaurid from the upper Maastrichtian Quiriquina Formation near the town of Cocholgüe about 30 km north of Concepción, central Chile. The specimen comprises a concretion preserving the rostral part of a pair of mandibular rami. The bulbous base of the teeth allows referral to cf. Plotosaurus sp. This is southernmost record of this piscivorous and pelagic taxon. The southern dispersal of mosasaurs during the late Maastrichtian may not only have depended from warm south-bound Equatorial currents but mainly from the nutrient-rich oceanic regime along an upwelling zone of cold abyssal water that mixed with the warm surface water, resulting in an enormous primary production. Apparently mosasaur dispersal depended more on food than on suitable temperatures or currents. |
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| Keywords: | Mosasauroidea Upper Maastrichtian Quiriquina Formation Central Chile Palaeoecology |
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