Halisaurus
Name:
Halisaurus
(Ocean lizard).
Phonetic: Hal-e-sore-us.
Named By: Othniel Charles Marsh - 1869.
Synonyms: Baptosaurus.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Squamata,
Mosasauridae, Halisaurinae.
Species: H. arambourgi, H.
onchognathus, H. platyspondylus.
Diet: Carnivore/Piscivore.
Size: Between 3-4 meters long, depending upon
the species/individual.
Known locations: Angola. Belgium. Jordan.
Morocco. Peru. Sweden. USA. Zaire.
Time period: Campanian/Maastrichtian of the
Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Skull and post cranial
skeletal remains of numerous individuals.
Halisaurus
was first named all the way back in 1869 during a period in
American paleontological history today known as the ‘bone wars’.
However a year later Othniel Charles Marsh, the person who named
Halisaurus, became aware of a genus of fish called
Halosaurus and
mistakenly came to the conclusion that Halisaurus
was preoccupied,
and so created the name Baptosaurus to replace
it. However although
very similar to Halisaurus, Halosaurus
is still different enough not
to cause a conflict, so Halisaurus was later
resurrected as a valid
name, while Baptosaurus is now a synonym to it.
With
individuals ranging between three and four meters in length,
Halisaurus was towards the smaller end of the size
scale for
mosasaurs.
Rather than being apex predators themselves, Halisaurus
would have been mid-range predators that hunted more for fish and squid
in open water. With a global distribution stretching from Peru to
North America, Across to Africa and Northern Europe, as well as a
temporal range spanning the Campanian and Maastrichtian of the
Cretaceous, it is clear that Halisaurus can be
credited with being
one of the more successful mosasaur genera.
Further reading
- A new species of Halisaurus from the Late
Cretaceous phosphates of
Morocco, and the phylogenetical relationships of the Halisaurinae
(Squamata: Mosasauridae). - Zoological Journal of the Linnean
Society 143:447-472. - N. Bardet, X. Pereda Suberbiola,
M. Iarochene, B. Bouya & M. Amaghaz - 2005.
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