49
6
November
1143
1165
10.1111/j.1475-4983.2006.00598.x
Yamaguchi Platynotan lizards underwent a dramatic Late Cretaceous radiation into marine habitats. Beginning with small-bodied forms, the lineage culminated with the mosasaurs, large predatory lizards with a world-wide distribution in the Santonian-Campanian. Moreover, the marine squamate radiations of the Cenomanian-Turonian are remarkable in having produced a range of long-bodied, reduced-limbed swimmers (dolichosaurs, adriosaurs, coniasaurs and limbed snakes) that seem to have thrived in the shallow coastal environments of the Western Tethys region. Until now, none of these long-bodied aquatic squamates has been recorded prior to the Cenomanian, none has been recovered from a non-marine locality and none is known from Asia. Here we describe a small, gracile, long-bodied mosasauroid lizard from a swampy continental deposit in the Lower Cretaceous of Japan. Wiley Online Library
EVANS, S. E., MANABE, M., NORO, M., ISAJI, S., YAMAGUCHI, M. 2006. A long-bodied lizard from the Lower Cretaceous of Japan. Palaeontology, 49, 6, 1143–1165.
Susan E. Evans, Makoto Manabe, Miyuki Noro, Shinji Isaji and MikikoYamaguchi Platynotan lizards underwent a dramatic Late Cretaceous radiation into marine habitats. Beginning with small-bodied forms, the lineage culminated with the mosasaurs, large predatory lizards with a world-wide distribution in the Santonian-Campanian. Moreover, the marine squamate radiations of the Cenomanian-Turonian are remarkable in having produced a range of long-bodied, reduced-limbed swimmers (dolichosaurs, adriosaurs, coniasaurs and limbed snakes) that seem to have thrived in the shallow coastal environments of the Western Tethys region. Until now, none of these long-bodied aquatic squamates has been recorded prior to the Cenomanian, none has been recovered from a non-marine locality and none is known from Asia. Here we describe a small, gracile, long-bodied mosasauroid lizard from a swampy continental deposit in the Lower Cretaceous of Japan. Wiley Online Library