5010 x 3352 px | 42,4 x 28,4 cm | 16,7 x 11,2 inches | 300dpi
Data acquisizione:
2000
Altre informazioni:
Mosasaurus was a genus of mosasaur, a carnivorous, aquatic lizard, somewhat resembling a flippered crocodile, with elongated heavy jaws. The genus lived in the Maastrichtian age of the Cretaceous period (Mesozoic era), around 70-65 millions years ago in the area of modern Western Europe. The name means "Meuse lizard", as it was found near the Meuse River (Latin Mosa + Greek sauros lizard). The genus Capelliniosuchus, once thought to be a metriorhynchid crocodylian, is a junior synonym of Mosasaurus. As with most mosasaurs, their legs and feet are modified into hydrofoil-like flippers, with the forelimbs larger than the hindlimbs. Like its American relatives Tylosaurus and Hainosaurus, Mosasaurus reached lengths of about 15 meters. However, Mosasaurus was much more robust than tylosaurine mosasaurs, at some double the weight of a mosasaur of the same length. In life, a 10 m long Mosasaurus was as heavy as a fifteen metre long Tylosaurus.
