SquaMates Ep. 36: Is this a mosasaur?

Happy World Lizard Day! Today we talk about the biggest lizards that ever roamed the Earth: mosasaurs! These giant aquatic lizards are often forgotten when we talk about shape diversity in squamates, but they were some of the most specialised and remarkable lizards ever. We dive into their diversity, history, origins, and extinction in this special episode. We also talk about the incredible Mirasaurus, the weird new reptile with bizarre integument structures that recently made the cover of Nature with an illustration by co-host Gabriel!

Remember that you can watch the full episode with video at youtube.com/@squamatespod!

Episode notes sometimes get clipped on your device or by your podcast provider; for full notes and references, go to squamatespod.com

Links, Citations, and Other Resources

Spiekman, S.N.F., Foth, C., Rossi, V., Gascó Martín, C., Slater, T.S., Bath Enright, O.G., Dollman, K.N., Serafini, G., Seegis, D., Grauvogel-Stamm, L., McNamara, M.E., Sues, H.-D. & Schoch, R.R. (2025) Triassic diapsid shows early diversification of skin appendages in reptiles. Nature, 643(8074):1297–1303. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09167-9

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SquaMates: website • instagram • facebook • youtube • bluesky

Mark D. Scherz: website • instagram • tumblr • facebook • researchgate • redbubble • bluesky

Gabriel Ugueto: website • instagram • facebook • redbubble • bluesky

Ethan Kocak: mossy underlog blog • personal website • comic • tumblr • facebook • patreon •