Co-ossified vertebrae of mosasaurs and cetaceans: implications for the mode of locomotion of extinct marine reptiles
In: Paleobiology. PALEONTOLOGICAL SOC INC: Lawrence KS etc.. ISSN 0094-8373; e-ISSN 1938-5331, more
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| Abstract |
Co-ossified pygal land caudal vertebrae in Late Cretaceous mosasaurs from the southeast Netherlands, northeast Belgium, and North America are compared with lumbar and caudal vertebrae from fossil and extant whales. Both infectious spondylitis and idiopathic vertebral hyperostosis afflicted these marine tetrapods. The causes of the infectious disease and of the idiopathic disease are similar in the compared life forms. The location of idiopathic hyperostosis along the vertebral Column implicates axial locomotion in mosasaurs, as in whales. |
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