FIRST RECORD OF THE MOSASAUR PLATECARPUS COPE, 1869 FROM SOUTH AMERICA AND ITS SYSTEMATIC IMPLICATIONS

• Main Authors: Peter Bengtson, Johan Lindgren
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Platecarpus; Mosasauridae; Turonian; Coniacian; Cretaceous; Sergipe; Brazil. RESUMO Sªo descritas duas coroas dentais marginais; provavelmente descartadas; do mosassauro Platecarpus sp; provenientes do Turoniano superior e Turoniano-Coniaciano da bacia de Sergipe; Nordeste do; Nordeste; South Atlantic Ocean
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.595.9276; http://www.sbpbrasil.org/revista/edicoes/8_1/bengtson%26lindgren.pdf

ABSTRACT Two isolated, presumably shed, marginal tooth-crowns of the mosasaur Platecarpus sp. are described from the upper Turonian and Turonian-Coniacian (Upper Cretaceous) of the Sergipe Basin in northeastern Brazil. They represent the first record of the genus from South America, thus extending the geographic range of Platecarpus beyond Africa, Europe and North America. It is suggested that Platecarpus originated in the northern part of the incipient South Atlantic Ocean during the early Late Cretaceous.