A New Species of the Durophagous Mosasaurid Carinodens from the Late Maastrichtian Phosphates of Morocco and Implications for Maastrichtian Mosasaurid Diversity
Journal: Diversity
Year: 2024

Late Cretaceous marine ecosystems saw a major adaptive radiation of mosasaurids, which evolved highly disparate jaw and tooth morphologies to feed on different prey. A striking pattern seen in mosasaurids was a high diversity of durophagous forms. Durophagy likely evolved several times independently in the mosasaurine genera Globidens, Prognathodon, and Carinodens. Carinodens is unusual in having low, rectangular, laterally compressed teeth. The genus is known from around the world, with the spe