23 Paleontology of North America (Posters)

Added from Discipline submissions.

Tuesday, 10 March 2026
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
RCC, Lower Level Hall

Taxonomic identification and Palaeoecological description of early Maastrichtian mosasaurs from the Blue Springs site (Coon Creek Member of the Ripley Formation)

Paper number: 23-2
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:30 AM – 9:45 AM

Authors

  • Keishawn Smith Presenting Author
    University of Southern Mississippi, Fayette, MS
  • Alyson Brink
    University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Mississippi

Abstract

Mosasaurids represented a diverse clade of extinct squamates that occupied a range of aquatic environments in North America during the Late Cretaceous.This Maastrichtian-aged Blue Springs fossil locality (Coon Creek Member of the Ripley Formation) preserves a faunal assemblage representative of the Mississippi Embayment prior to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. It is recognized for its diverse assemblage of marine taxa and represents a near-shore, shallow-marine environment as a time-transgressive shelf deposit. An isolated lower right dentary as well as non-associated teeth and caudal vertebrae represent mosasaurs from this locality. Currently, only a single Maastrichtian mosasaurid species, Mosasaurus hoffmannii, has been identified from Mississippi, Preliminary results suggest that the Blue Springs material is not M. hoffmannii and may represent an unrecognized Maastrichtian mosasaurid taxon of genus Prognathodon. Comparative morphological analysis with mosasaur taxa from the surrounding region, in conjunction with phylogenetic assessment of indeterminate mosasaurid material, will aid in the taxonomic placement of these specimens.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 58, No. 1

doi: 10.1130/abs/2026SE-411570

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