Publication - Mosasaur dental remains from Holden Beach

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

Barely a week after our last paper got published, our newest has now made it to press! This time we describe the dental remains of mosasaurs recovered from Holden Beach, Brunswick County, North Carolina, USA, where sediments were from dredged from the Maastrichtian Upper Cretaceous Peedee Formation to renourish the beach following storm damage.

 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/383230348_Mosasaurs_Squamata_Mosasauridae_from_the_Late_Cretaceous_Late_Maastrichtian_of_North_Carolina_USA

 

Authors: @Praefectus @BrennanThePaleoDude @pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon

Russian translations: @RuMert

 

Abstract: During April 2022, offshore dredging for a storm damage beach renourishment project placed large quantities of Upper Cretaceous (upper Maastrichtian) Peedee Formation sediment onto the shores of Holden Beach in Brunswick County, North Carolina, USA. The Cretaceous sediment is highly fossiliferous and has yielded a rich and diversified assemblage of fossils from mosasaurid reptiles. New fossil material, namely isolated teeth, consists of several dental morphologies from the mosasaur subfamilies Halisaurinae and Mosasaurinae. Five species are recognized: Halisaurus sp., Mosasaurus cf. beaugei Arambourg, 1952, Mosasaurus cf. hoffmannii Mantell, 1829, Prognathodon cf. solvayi Dollo, 1889 and Prognathodontini indet. In this assemblage, prognathodontins predominate, being the most abundant marine reptile find, with all other species being comparatively rare. The mosasaur assemblage of North Carolina shows close affinity with the phosphates of Morocco, containing species typical of both the northern and southern margins of the Mediterranean Tethys. These new discoveries improve our knowledge of the biodiversity of mosasaur fauna from the late Maastrichtian of North Carolina and add to the known paleobiogeographical distribution of these taxa. The material described within was collected courtesy of the efforts of amateur fossil hunters and seasonal tourists combing Holden Beach for fossilized remains.

 

I'm stoked to have two of our papers come out so shortly after each other, and just in time for the 7th Mosasaur Meeting in September! It's been a pleasure working on this project, as always! Thanks guys!

 

A sample of the mosasaur teeth recovered from Holden Beach

[Coco]

Bravo !

 

Coco

[Mikrogeophagus]

Exciting stuff! I'll have to read that sometime soon!

[JohnJ]

Bravo, indeed!

[North]

Good article as always. 

[Mikrogeophagus]

Just finished reading. Great article! I like that you guys are aggregating a lot of tooth morphology info into one place with articles like these. It makes it a lot easier for the average hunter who only finds isolated teeth to learn about the specific differences to look for when trying to identify.

[old bones]

Excellent! So nice to have more, and accurate info on these fossils!

[Fin Lover]

Congratulations!

[Praefectus]

It was great working with you all again. Sorry I've been slow to reply to messages/tags. Medical school is keeping me away from TFF. Hope to do more paleo work soon. 

[rocket]

well done. Just downloaded the paper, like it 

[Ludwigia]

Yay!