Mount Saint Peter
Around 1765 the skull of a "Mosasaurus" was discovered here in a limestone quarry, one of the first recognised reptile fossils, which was later acquired by the Teylers Museum in Haarlem. A more famous "Mosasaurus" fossil was found between 1770 and 1774 but was confiscated by the French in 1794 and is now in the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris. Later dinosaur remains were discovered here as well, belonging to "Betasuchus" and "Orthomerus", as well as turtles and fossils of smaller creatures of the sea.
Timeline of mosasaur research
The 20th century soon saw the discovery in Alabama of a strange mosasaur called "Globidens", with rounded teeth suited to crushing shells. Mosasaur remains were also discovered in Africa and California. In 1967 Dale Russell published a scientific monograph dedicated to mosasaurs. Embryonic remains in the 1990s confirmed that mosasaurs gave live birth like in ichthyosaurs. The 1990s also saw a revival and escalation of a debate regarding whether or not some supposed mosasaur toothmarks in ammonoid shells were actually made by limpets. By the end of the century, the evolutionary relationship between mosasaurs and snakes as well as the possible involvement of mosasaurs in the extinction of the aforementioned ichthyosaurs became hot button controversies.