RE: mosasaur babies/no marine dinos

[Jura <archosaur@reptilis.net>]

AFAIK there are OVOVIVIPAROUS lizards (_Lacerta vivipara_) and snakes.
So, the mosasaurs: viviparous or ovoviviparous?

Friendly - LJB.

++++++++++++++++++++

There are oviparous, ovoviviparous and viviparous squamates. 

Ovoviviparity tends to be used too much as a catch all for all live bearing 
reptiles. For instance, vipers give live birth to babies in a membranous sack. 
The babies CAN'T survive outside of the mother (at least not without some human 
intervention), thus making them prime candidates for being viviparous. Yet I 
still see them being called ovoviviparous because they receive all their 
nutrition from their "eggs." It's very bothersome.

Not only are their true viviparous squamates, but there are even a few 
placental ones as well. Someone on the list (HP Silvio Restro, I think) already 
mentioned one of them, but here are a few more:

_Chalcides chalcides_

_Pseudemoia entrecasteauxii_

_Niveoscincus metallicus_ 

So it's possible that mosasaurs were also viviparous and not just the catch-all 
ovoviviparous.

Jura

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