沧龙

📖 1. 概览

白垩纪末期称霸海洋的顶级海生爬行动物，是现生巨蜥与蛇类（有鳞目）的巨大海洋近亲。

🌐 Wikipedia 摘要摘录

Mosasaurus is the type genus of the Mosasauridae, an extinct group of aquatic squamate reptiles. It lived from about 82 to 66 million years ago during the Campanian and Maastrichtian stages of the Late Cretaceous. The genus was one of the first Mesozoic marine reptiles known to science—the first fossils of Mosasaurus were found as skulls in a chalk quarry near the Dutch city of Maastricht in the late 18th century, and were initially thought to be crocodiles or whales. One skull discovered in 1778 was famously nicknamed the "great animal of Maastricht". In 1808, naturalist Georges Cuvier concluded that it belonged to a giant marine lizard with similarities to monitor lizards but otherwise unlike any known living animal. This concept was revolutionary at the time and helped support the then-developing ideas of extinction. Cuvier did not designate a scientific name for the animal; this was done by William Daniel Conybeare in 1822 when he named it Mosasaurus in reference to its origin in fossil deposits near the Meuse River. The exact affinities of Mosasaurus as a squamate remain controversial, and scientists continue to debate whether its closest living relatives are monitor lizards or snakes.

🦴 2. 身体结构与特征

上颚（翼骨）长有第二排牙齿（翼骨齿），一旦咬住猎物便绝不会让其逃脱。

🔍 3. 化石记录与古生态

1764年发现于荷兰马斯特里赫特，是为人类确立“灭绝”概念的历史性化石。

🇰🇷 4. 与韩国的关联

它是环太平洋白垩纪海洋生态系统的顶级掠食者。