Halisaurus

Halisaurus
	Halisaurus in a living reconstruction
Temporal occurrence
	Upper Cretaceous ( Cenomanian to Maastrichtian )
	100.5 to 66 million years
Locations
	Europe (Belgium); North America ( New Jersey , Kansas , Alabama ); South America; Africa (Morocco, Congo );
Systematics
	Toxicofera
	Sneaky (Anguimorpha)
	Mosasauroidea
	Mosasaur (Mosasauridae)
	Halisaurinae
	Halisaurus
Scientific name
	Halisaurus
	Marsh , 1869

Halisaurus ( Gr . Halis = sea; sauros = lizard) is a genus of mosasaurs 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 ago, from Cenomanian to late Maastrichtian .

features

Halisaurus was a relatively small, maximally 4.5 meters long mosasaur, which had a 40 cm long, highly kinetic skull and a primitively built spine . The cervical vertebrae were severely compressed. Zygapophyses (long bone rods that connected the individual vertebral elements ) were not present.

Systematics and anatomy

Halisaurus forms together with Eonatator the subfamily Halisaurinae, the sister group of the more progressive Natania. The monophyletic relationship of the Halisaurinae is justified by the following synapomorphies (common derived characteristics):

skull

The shape of the lateral bone suture (suture) between the intermaxillary bone ( premaxillary) and the upper jaw (maxillary) on the facial skull and the oblique contact surface between the parietal bone (parietal) and supratemporal on the brain skull are characteristic.

extremities

The forelimbs show an outwardly (preaxially) running bone ridge along the lower ( distal ) two-thirds of the spoke (radius). The hind limbs have a long and slender shinbone (tibia) and fibula (fibula), said end regions ( extremities ) are somewhat wider.

species

Halisaurus platyspondylus (type species)
Halisaurus arambourgi , from Morocco
Halisaurus onchognathus , noun dubium , the type specimen in a museum in Munich was destroyed in World War II.
Halisaurus ortliebi , just a fragmented skull with no spine

swell

Richard Ellis: Sea Dragons. Predators of the Prehistoric Oceans. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence KS 2003, ISBN 0-7006-1269-6 .
Ben Creisler: Mosasauridae Translation and Pronunciation Guide: Halisaurus . Last accessed on June 26, 2009

↑ Ben Creisler: Dinosauria Translation and Pronunciation Guide ( Memento of October 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
↑ ^a ^b Nathalie Bardet, Xabier Pereda Suberbiola, Mohamed Iarochene, Baadi Bouya, Mbarek Amaghzaz: A new species of Halisaurus from the Late Cretaceous phosphates of Morocco, and the phylogenetical relationships of the Halisaurinae (Squamata: Mosasauridae). In: Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. Vol. 143, No. 3, 2005, ISSN 0024-4082 , pp. 447-472, doi : 10.1111 / j.1096-3642.2005.00152.x .

[1] Ben Creisler: Dinosauria Translation and Pronunciation Guide ( Memento of October 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive )

[Bardet_et_al.-2] Nathalie Bardet, Xabier Pereda Suberbiola, Mohamed Iarochene, Baadi Bouya, Mbarek Amaghzaz: A new species of Halisaurus from the Late Cretaceous phosphates of Morocco, and the phylogenetical relationships of the Halisaurinae (Squamata: Mosasauridae). In: Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. Vol. 143, No. 3, 2005, ISSN 0024-4082 , pp. 447-472, doi : 10.1111 / j.1096-3642.2005.00152.x .