- An order of large, extinct, marine reptiles, found
in the Cretaceous rocks, especially in America. They were serpentlike
in form and in having loosely articulated and dilatable jaws, with
large recurved tteth, but they had paddlelike feet. Some of them were
over fifty feet long. They are, essentially, fossil sea serpents with
paddles. Called also Pythonomarpha, and Mosasauria.
Definition
[ n. pl.]