List of mosasaur genera

Tylosaurus proriger mounted skeleton in the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center in Woodland Park, Colorado

This list of mosasaurs is a comprehensive listing of all genera that have ever been included in the family Mosasauridae or the parent clade Mosasauroidea, excluding purely vernacular terms. The list includes all commonly accepted genera, but also genera that are now considered invalid, doubtful (nomen dubium), or were not formally published (nomen nudum), as well as junior synonyms of more established names, and genera that are no longer considered mosasauroid. Non-mosasaurid mosasauroids shall be noted as such. The list currently includes 82 genera.

Scope and terminology[]

There is no official, canonical list of mosasaur genera but one of the most thorough attempts can be found on the "Pythonomorpha" section of Mikko Haaramo's Phylogeny Archive.

Naming conventions and terminology follow the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Technical terms used include:

Junior synonym: A name which describes the same taxon as a previously published name. If two or more genera are formally designated and the type specimens are later assigned to the same genus, the first to be published (in chronological order) is the senior synonym, and all other instances are junior synonyms. Senior synonyms are generally used, except by special decision of the ICZN, but junior synonyms cannot be used again, even if deprecated. Junior synonymy is often subjective, unless the genera described were both based on the same type specimen.
Nomen nudum (Latin for "naked name"): A name that has appeared in print but has not yet been formally published by the standards of the ICZN. Nomina nuda (the plural form) are invalid, and are therefore not italicized as a proper generic name would be. If the name is later formally published, that name is no longer a nomen nudum and will be italicized on this list. Often, the formally published name will differ from any nomina nuda that describe the same specimen. In this case, these nomina nuda will be deleted from this list in favor of the published name.
Preoccupied name: A name that is formally published, but which has already been used for another taxon. This second use is invalid (as are all subsequent uses) and the name must be replaced. As preoccupied names are not valid generic names, they will also go unitalicized on this list.
Nomen dubium (Latin for "dubious name"): A name describing a fossil with no unique diagnostic features.

Mosasaur genera[]

Genus	Authors	Year	Status	Location	Notes
Acteosaurus	Meyer	1860	Valid.	Slovenia	More basal than the Mosasauridae, potentially a non-mosasaurid mosasauroid, though likely more basal.^[1] Perhaps a dolichosaurid.
Adriosaurus	Seeley	1881	Valid.	Slovenia	More basal than the Mosasauridae, its position within Squamata is uncertain.
Aigialosaurus	Kramberger	1892	Valid.	Croatia	Non-mosasaurid mosasauroid, classified within the Aigialosauridae.
Amphekepubis	Mehl	1930	Nomen dubium.	Mexico	Possible junior synonym of Mosasaurus.
Amphorosteus	Gibbs	1851	Nomen dubium.	USA	Nomen dubium.
Ancylocentrum	Schmidt	1927	Jr. synonym.		Junior synonym of Prognathodon.
Angolasaurus	Telles-Antunes	1964	Valid.	Angola Niger USA Brazil
Baptosaurus	Marsh	1870	Jr. synonym.	N/A	Junior synonym of Halisaurus.
Baseodon	Leidy	1865	Jr. synonym.	N/A	Junior synonym of Mosasaurus.
Batrachiosaurus	Harlan	1839	Jr. synonym.	N/A	Junior synonym of Mosasaurus.
Brachysaurana	Strand	1928	Jr. synonym.	N/A	Junior synonym of Prognathodon.
Brachysaurus	Williston	1897	Preoccupied.	N/A	Preoccupied by a junior synonym of an iguanian lizard genus, Stenocercus;^[2] referred to replacement names Brachysaurana and Ancylocentrum, of which Ancylocentrum has priority as such.
Carinodens	Woodward	1891	Valid.	Morocco Netherlands Ukraine Russia Belgium
Carsosaurus	Kornhuber	1893	Valid.	Slovenia
Clidastes	Cope	1868	Valid.	Russia Jordan Germany USA Sweden Mexico
Compressidens	Dollo	1924	Preoccupied.	N/A	Preoccupied by a tusk shell; later renamed Carinodens.
Dallasaurus	Polcyn Bell	2005	Valid.	USA
Dolichosaurus	Owen	1894	Valid.	UK	Non-mosasaurid mosasauroid.
Dollosaurus	Yakovlev	1901	Disputed.	Spain Sweden Russia	Possible junior synonym of Prognathodon.
Ectenosaurus	Russel	1967	Valid.	USA
Edestosaurus	Marsh	1871	Jr. synonym.		Junior synonym of Clidastes.
Eidolosaurus	Nopcsa	1923	Valid.	Slovenia	Potentially a non-mosasaurid mosasauroid, though has an uncertain phylogenetic placement.
Elliptonodon	Emmons	1858	Jr. synonym.		Junior synonym of Tylosaurus.
Eonatator	Bardet Pereda Suberbiola Iarochène Bouya Amaghzaz	2005	Valid.	Colombia Sweden
Eremiasaurus^[3]	Leblanc Caldwell Bardet	2012	Valid.	Morocco	Type species is Eremiasaurus heterodontus.
Gavialimimus^[4]	Strong et al.	2020	Valid.	Morocco
Globidens	Gilmore	1912	Valid.	USA Belgium Jordan Angola Syria Morocco Egypt Brazil Indonesia
Gnathomortis^[5]	Lively	2020	Valid.	USA
Goronyosaurus	Azzaroli de Guili Ficcarelli Torre	1972	Valid.	Morocco
Haasiasaurus	Polcyn Tchernov Jacobs	2003	Valid.	State of Palestine
Hainosaurus	Dollo	1885	Valid.	Sweden Russia Poland USA France Belgium Spain
Halisaurus	Marsh	1869	Valid.	Morocco Niger Jordan Peru DRC USA Sweden Belgium	Renamed Baptosaurus Marsh, 1870 when Marsh thought the name was preoccupied by a fish: Halosaurus. Modern rules allow the original.
Holcodus	Gibbs	1851	Jr. synonym.		Junior synonym of Platecarpus.
Holosaurus	Marsh	1880	Preoccupied.		Referred to Platecarpus.
Hydrosaurus	Kornhuber	1873	Preoccupied.		Preoccupied by an agamid lizard; renamed Pontosaurus.
Igdamanosaurus	Zdansky	1935	Valid.	Niger Egypt Morocco
Kaikaifilu	Otero et al.	2016	Valid.	Antarctica
Kolposaurus	Camp	1942	Preoccupied.		Preoccupied by a junior synonym of Nothosaurus,^[6] referred to Plotosaurus
Komensaurus	Caldwell Palci	2007	Valid.	Slovenia
Kourisodon	Nicholls Meckert	2002	Valid.	Japan Canada
Lakumasaurus	Novas Fernandez Gasparini de Lirio Mumez Puerta	2002	Jr. synonym.		Junior synonym of Taniwhasaurus.
Latoplatecarpus^[7]	Konishi Caldwell	2011	Valid.	Canada	Type species is Latoplatecarpus willistoni. A second species is Latoplatecarpus nichollsae originally described in genus Plioplatecarpus.^[8]
Leiodon	Owen	1841	Preoccupied.	Spain Ukraine UK	Preoccupied by a fish, referred to Liodon.
Lesticodus	Leidy	1861	Nomen dubium.		Nomen dubium.
Lestosaurus	Marsh	1872	Jr. synonym.		Junior synonym of Platecarpus.
Liodon	Agassiz	1846	Nomen dubium.	USA Germany New Zealand Angola	Dubious genus due to the fragmentary nature of the type specimen and the type species L. anceps. All species referred to it likely do not belong to the same genus.
Macrosaurus	Owen	1849	Jr. synonym.		Junior synonym of Halisaurus.
Mesoleptos	Cornalia	1851	Valid.	Croatia Slovenia State of Palestine	More basal than the Mosasauridae, its position within Squamata is uncertain.
Moanasaurus	Wiffen	1980	Valid.
Mosasaurus	Conybeare	1822	Valid.	UK Bulgaria Canada New Zealand Netherlands Turkey Poland Angola USA DRC Russia South Africa Sweden Poland Syria Spain Japan Denmark Belgium Niger Italy Jordan
Nectoportheus	Cope	1868	Jr. synonym.		Junior synonym of Mosasaurus.
Opetiosaurus	Kornhuber	1901	Disputed.		Possible junior synonym of Aigialosaurus.
Oterognathus	Dollo	1889	Jr. synonym.		Junior synonym of Plioplatecarpus.
Pannoniasaurus	Makádi Caldwell Ősi	2012	Valid.
Phosphorosaurus	Dollo	1889	Valid.	Angola
Platecarpus	Cope	1869	Valid.	USA Angola Russia Syria Egypt Sweden Morocco Jordan Canada Brazil Spain Niger Australia
Plesioplatecarpus^[7]	Konishi Caldwell	2011	Valid.		Type species is Plesioplatecarpus planifrons, originally described in genus Clidastes, and later recombined in Platecarpus.
Plesiotylosaurus	Camp	1942	Valid.
Plioplatecarpus	Dollo	1882	Valid.	USA
Plotosaurus	Camp	1951	Valid.	USA
Pluridens	Lingham-Sollar	1998	Valid.	Niger
Pontosaurus	Kornhuber	1873	Valid.	Croatia Lebanon	Potentially a non-mosasaurid mosasauroid, though has an uncertain phylogenetic placement.
Portunatasaurus	Campbell Mekarski Japundžić Krizmanić Caldwell	2019	Valid.	Croatia	Non-mosasaurid mosasauroid.
Proaigialosaurus	Kuhn	1958	Valid.		Non-mosasaurid mosasauroid, classified within the Aigialosauridae.
Prognathodon	Dollo	1889	Valid.	Belgium USA Saudi Arabia Spain Israel Angola Italy New Zealand DRC Russia Canada Poland France Germany Netherlands Syria Jordan	Possibly paraphyletic.
Prognathosaurus	Dollo	1889	Jr. synonym.		Junior synonym of Prognathodon.
Pterycollosaurus	Dollo	1882	Jr. synonym.		Junior synonym of Mosasaurus.
Rhamphosaurus	Cope	1872	Preoccupied.		Preoccupied by another lizard, referred to Tylosaurus.
Rhinosaurus	Marsh	1872	Preoccupied.		Preoccupied,^[9] referred to Tylosaurus.
Rikisaurus^[10]	Wiffen	1990	Jr. synonym.	New Zealand	Junior synonym of Moanasaurus.
Rikkisaurus	Bell Caldwell Holmes Wiffen McKee	1999	Lapsus calami.		Lapsus calami of Rikisaurus.
Romeosaurus^[11]	Palci Caldwell Papzzoni	2013	Valid.	Italy
Russellosaurus^[12]	Polson Bell	2005	Valid.	USA
Saurochampsa	Wagler	1830	Jr. synonym.		Junior synonym of Mosasaurus.
Selmasaurus^[13]	Wright Shannon	1988	Valid.	USA
Sironectes	Cope	1840	Jr. synonym.		Junior synonym of Platecarpus.
Taniwhasaurus	Hector	1874	Valid.	Antarctica New Zealand Japan
Tethysaurus^[14]	Bardet Superbiola Jalil	2003	Valid.	Morocco
Tylosaurus	Marsh	1872	Valid.	USA Canada Spain Jordan Mexico Sweden New Zealand
Vallecillosaurus^[15]	Smith Buchy	2008	Valid.	Mexico	More basal than the Mosasauridae, its position within Squamata is uncertain.
Yaguarasaurus	Paramo	1994	Valid.	Colombia

Aigialosaurus.

Clidastes.

Globidens.

Goronyosaurus.

Hainosaurus.

Halisaurus.

Latoplatecarpus.

Mosasaurus.

Platecarpus.

Plesioplatecarpus.

Plioplatecarpus.

Plotosaurus.

Prognathodon.

Selmasaurus.

Taniwhasaurus.

Tylosaurus.

Vallecillosaurus.

Notes[]

^ Redescription of Acteosaurus tommasinii von Meyer, 1860, and a discussion of evolutionary trends within the clade Ophidiomorpha. 2010.
^ Stenocercus at Herpbreeder.com Archived April 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12-03-2007.
^ Leblanc, A.R.H.; Caldwell, M.W.; Bardet, N. (2012). "A new mosasaurine from the Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) phosphates of Morocco and its implications for mosasaurine systematics". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 32 (1): 82–104. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.624145.
^ Catherine R. C. Strong; Michael W. Caldwell; Takuya Konishi; Alessandro Palci (2020). "A new species of longirostrine plioplatecarpine mosasaur (Squamata: Mosasauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Morocco, with a re-evaluation of the problematic taxon 'Platecarpus' ptychodon". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. Online edition. doi:10.1080/14772019.2020.1818322.
^ Lively, J.R. (2020). "Redescription and phylogenetic assessment of 'Prognathodon' stadtmani: implications for Globidensini monophyly and character homology in Mosasaurinae". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: e1784183. doi:10.1080/02724634.2020.1784183.
^ Sauropterygia at Paleofile.com. Retrieved 12-03-2007.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Konishi, T.; Caldwell, M.W. (2011). "Two new plioplatecarpine (Squamata, Mosasauridae) genera from the Upper Cretaceous of North America, and a global phylogenetic analysis of plioplatecarpines". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 31 (4): 754–783. doi:10.1080/02724634.2011.579023.
^ Cuthbertson, R.S.; Mallon, J.C.; Campione, N.E.; Holmes, R.B. (2007). "A new species of mosasaur (Squamata: Mosasauridae) from the Pierre Shale (lower Campanian) of Manitoba". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 44 (5): 593–606. doi:10.1139/e07-006.
^ Edward Drinker Cope "On the structure of the Pythonomorpha". (1872) Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 24:140-141
^ Wiffen, J. 1990: New mosasaurs (Reptilia; family Mosasauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous of North Island, New Zealand. New Zealand journal of geology and geophysics, 33: 67-85.
^ Alessandro Palci, Michael W. Caldwell and Cesare A. Papazzoni (2013). "A new genus and subfamily of mosasaurs from the Upper Cretaceous of northern Italy". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 33 (3): 599–612. doi:10.1080/02724634.2013.731024.
^ Polcyn, M. J. & Bell Jr., G. L., 2005: Russellosaurus coheni n. gen., n. sp., a 92 million-year-old mosasaur from Texas (USA), and the definition of the parafamily Russellosaurina. –Netherlands Journal of Geosciences: Vol. 84, #3.
^ Wright, K. R. & Shannon, S. W., 1988: Selmasaurus russelli, a new plioplatecarpine mosasaur (Squamata, Mosasauridae) from Alabama. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: Vol. 8, #1, pp. 102-107
^ Bardet, N., X. Pereda Suberbiola, and N-E. Jalil. 2003. A new mosasauroid (Squamata) from the Late Cretaceous (Turonian) of Morocco. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Palevol 2:607–616.
^ Smith, K.T. and Buchy, M-C. 2008 A new aigialosaur (Squamata-Anguimorpha) with soft tissue remains from the Upper Cretaceous of Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28(1): 85-94.

References[]

Pythonomorpha at Mikko's Phylogeny Archive. Retrieved 12-03-2007.
Mosasauridae Translation and Pronunciation Guide at Dinosauria.com. Retrieved 12-03-2007.

[1] Redescription of Acteosaurus tommasinii von Meyer, 1860, and a discussion of evolutionary trends within the clade Ophidiomorpha. 2010.

[2] Stenocercus at Herpbreeder.com Archived April 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12-03-2007.

[LCB12-3] Leblanc, A.R.H.; Caldwell, M.W.; Bardet, N. (2012). "A new mosasaurine from the Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) phosphates of Morocco and its implications for mosasaurine systematics". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 32 (1): 82–104. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.624145.

[4] Catherine R. C. Strong; Michael W. Caldwell; Takuya Konishi; Alessandro Palci (2020). "A new species of longirostrine plioplatecarpine mosasaur (Squamata: Mosasauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Morocco, with a re-evaluation of the problematic taxon 'Platecarpus' ptychodon". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. Online edition. doi:10.1080/14772019.2020.1818322.

[lively2020-5] Lively, J.R. (2020). "Redescription and phylogenetic assessment of 'Prognathodon' stadtmani: implications for Globidensini monophyly and character homology in Mosasaurinae". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: e1784183. doi:10.1080/02724634.2020.1784183.

[6] Sauropterygia at Paleofile.com. Retrieved 12-03-2007.

[KC11-7] Jump up to: ^a ^b Konishi, T.; Caldwell, M.W. (2011). "Two new plioplatecarpine (Squamata, Mosasauridae) genera from the Upper Cretaceous of North America, and a global phylogenetic analysis of plioplatecarpines". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 31 (4): 754–783. doi:10.1080/02724634.2011.579023.

[Cetal07-8] Cuthbertson, R.S.; Mallon, J.C.; Campione, N.E.; Holmes, R.B. (2007). "A new species of mosasaur (Squamata: Mosasauridae) from the Pierre Shale (lower Campanian) of Manitoba". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 44 (5): 593–606. doi:10.1139/e07-006.

[9] Edward Drinker Cope "On the structure of the Pythonomorpha". (1872) Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 24:140-141

[10] Wiffen, J. 1990: New mosasaurs (Reptilia; family Mosasauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous of North Island, New Zealand. New Zealand journal of geology and geophysics, 33: 67-85.

[11] Alessandro Palci, Michael W. Caldwell and Cesare A. Papazzoni (2013). "A new genus and subfamily of mosasaurs from the Upper Cretaceous of northern Italy". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 33 (3): 599–612. doi:10.1080/02724634.2013.731024.

[12] Polcyn, M. J. & Bell Jr., G. L., 2005: Russellosaurus coheni n. gen., n. sp., a 92 million-year-old mosasaur from Texas (USA), and the definition of the parafamily Russellosaurina. –Netherlands Journal of Geosciences: Vol. 84, #3.

[13] Wright, K. R. & Shannon, S. W., 1988: Selmasaurus russelli, a new plioplatecarpine mosasaur (Squamata, Mosasauridae) from Alabama. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: Vol. 8, #1, pp. 102-107

[14] Bardet, N., X. Pereda Suberbiola, and N-E. Jalil. 2003. A new mosasauroid (Squamata) from the Late Cretaceous (Turonian) of Morocco. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Palevol 2:607–616.

[15] Smith, K.T. and Buchy, M-C. 2008 A new aigialosaur (Squamata-Anguimorpha) with soft tissue remains from the Upper Cretaceous of Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28(1): 85-94.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

List of mosasaur genera

Contents

Scope and terminology[]

Mosasaur genera[]

See also[]

Notes[]

References[]