page_title: Makhaira rossica
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Makhaira rossica / Description
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Dentition and mandible of YKM 68249/1-10. (a) Mandible in dorsal view. (b) Replacement tooth in the 2nd alveolus, showing the trihedral cross section. (c) Base of the 3rd alveolus crown, showing the marked mesiolabial carina (the crown fragment has been glued slightly off its original position). (d) 1st or 2nd post-symphysis replacement tooth, showing distal ridges and serrated carinae. (e,f) Successive zooms of the mesiolabial carinae of a broken off crown lying on the ventral surface of the symphysis. (h) Schematic diagram of the carination, drawn from (f). Note the serrated crenulations.
context_page_description: Makhaira rossica is an extinct genus and species of a marine reptile belonging to the family Pliosauridae. It lived during the early Cretaceous period, and its fossils have been found in Russia.
context_section_description: Although fragmentary, the fossils of this animal have enough to differentiate it from other similar plesiosaurs. Makhaira must have measured about 5 metres (16 ft) long, and like its other relatives, must have had a compact body with four large paddle-like limbs. The skull was elongated, particularly in the rostral area, with several sharp teeth. The characteristics of these teeth are unique, they are triangular in cross view and had carinae or grooves with denticles at the edges, which possessed a height greater than its width. Denticles varied in length along the ridge and formed a kind of undulation in the edge of the tooth. The first tooth protruded from the premaxilla, while the mandibular symphysis (the part of the jaw in which both rami meet) was very long and had more than ten tooth sockets on each side. The face was long and straight, devoid of any lateral expansion.
caption: Teeth and mandible of Makhaira rossica.
exif: {}