Halisaurus

Halisaurus in a live reconstruction

  • Europe (Belgium )
  • North America (New Jersey, Kansas, Alabama)
  • South America
  • Africa (Morocco, Congo )

Halisaurus ( Gr. halis = sea; sauros = lizard ) is a genus of mosasaur from the Upper Cretaceous. Fragmentary fossil remains have been found in Europe, North America, South America and Africa. The fossil record of Halisaurus extends over a period of more than 30 million years, from the Cenomanian to the late Maastrichtian.

Features

Halisaurus was a relatively small, a maximum of 4.5 meters long expectant mosasaurs, who had a 40 -cm-long, highly kinetic skull and a primitive built spine. The cervical vertebrae were highly compressed. Zygapophyses ( long bone rods, which connected the individual vertebral elements ) were not available.

Systematics and anatomy

Halisaurus together with Eonatator the subfamily Halisaurinae, the sister group of the more advanced Natantia. The monophyletic relationship of the ratio Halisaurinae is justified by the following synapomorphies ( shared derived characteristics):

The shape of the lateral suture ( suture ) between premaxillary bone ( premaxilla ) and upper jaw ( maxilla ) on the facial skeleton and the inclined contact surface between the parietal bone ( parietal ) and the supratemporal skull are characteristic.

The front limbs show an outside ( preaxial ) extending bony ridge along the lower (distal) two-thirds of the radius ( radius). The hind limbs have a long and slim shin (tibia) and fibula ( fibula ), the end regions ( extremities ) are slightly wider.

Species

  • Halisaurus platyspondylus ( type species )
  • Halisaurus arambourgi, from Morocco
  • Halisaurus onchognathus, noun dubium, the type specimen lying in a museum in Munich was destroyed in the Second World War.
  • Halisaurus ortliebi, only a fragmented skull without spine

Swell

  • Richard Ellis: Sea Dragons: Predators of the Prehistoric Oceans. University Press of Kansas, 2003, ISBN 0-7006-1269-6
  • Ben Creisler: Mosasauridae Translation and Pronunciation Guide: Halisaurus. Last accessed on 26 June 2009
  • Mosasaur
  • Mosasauridae
Mya (unit) Diapsid Squamata Nomen dubium
370751
de