| Plioplatecarpinae Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Skeleton cast of Platecarpus tympaniticus | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Clade: | †Mosasauria |
| Family: | †Mosasauridae |
| Clade: | †Russellosaurina |
| Subfamily: | †Plioplatecarpinae Dollo, 1884;[1] Williston, 1897[2] |
| Genera | |
| |
Plioplatecarpinae is a subfamily of mosasaurs, a diverse group of Late Cretaceous marine squamates. Members of the subfamily are informally and collectively known as "plioplatecarpines" and have been recovered from all continents,[4] though the occurrences in Australia remain questionable. The subfamily includes the genera Latoplatecarpus, Platecarpus, Plioplatecarpus and Plesioplatecarpus.
Plioplatecarpines were small to medium-sized mosasaurs that were comparatively fast and agile compared to mosasaurs of other subfamilies. The first plioplatecarpines appear in the Turonian and are among the oldest of mosasaurs, and the clade persists throughout the Maastrichtian, a period of approximately 24 million years. The subfamily was seemingly heavily affected during a poorly understood middle-Campanian mosasaur extinction event[5] and its genera appear to have faced competition from mosasaurine mosasaurs during the Maastrichtian, leading to a decline in numbers and in diversity.[6]
The etymology of this group derives from the genus Plioplatecarpus (Greek pleion = "more" + Greek plate = "oar" + Greek karpos = "wrist, carpus").
- ^ Dollo L. 1884. Le mosasaure. Revue des Questions Scientifiques XVI:648-653.
- ^ Williston SW. 1897. Range and distribution of the mosasaurs with remarks on synonymy. Kansas University Quarterly 4 (4): 177-185.
- ^ Longrich, Nicholas R.; Polcyn, Michael J.; Jalil, Nour-Eddine; Pereda-Suberbiola, Xabier; Bardet, Nathalie (2024-03-01). "A bizarre new plioplatecarpine mosasaurid from the Maastrichtian of Morocco". Cretaceous Research: 105870. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2024.105870. ISSN 0195-6671.
- ^ "Fossilworks: Plioplatecarpinae". fossilworks.org. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ^ "Stratigraphical distribution of Campanian and Maastrichtian mosasaurs in Sweden - Evidence of an intercontinental marine extinction event?". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
- ^ Polcyn, Michael J.; Jacobs, Louis L.; Araújo, Ricardo; Schulp, Anne S.; Mateus, Octávio (2014-04-15). "Physical drivers of mosasaur evolution". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. Physical drivers in the evolution of marine tetrapods. 400: 17–27. Bibcode:2014PPP...400...17P. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.05.018.