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List of mosasaur type specimens

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This list of mosasaur type specimens is a list of fossils that are official standard-bearers for inclusion in the species and genera of the squamate clade Mosasauroidea, which includes the line of predatory marine lizards that culminates in the mosasaurids. Type specimens are definitionally members of biological taxa, and additional specimens are "referred" to these taxa only if an expert deems them sufficiently similar to the type.

The list

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Species Genus Nickname Catalogue number Institution Age Unit Country Notes Images
Jormungandr walhallaensis Jormungandr "Jorgie"[1] NDGS 10838[2] North Dakota State Fossil Collection Campanian Pembina Member, Pierre Shale Formation North Dakota, USA
Mosasaurus hoffmannii Mosasaurus le grand animal fossil des carrièrs de Maestricht MNHN AC 9648 Muséum national d'Histoire Naturelle Maastrichtian Kanne Horizon, Nekum Chalk, Maastricht Formation[3] Netherlands The holotype specimen was excavated from the limestone quarries of Mount Saint Peter near Maastricht. It is the second documented discovery of mosasauroid fossils and was found between the 1770s and early 1780s.[3][4] It was brought to Paris after the siege of Maastricht, where it was studied by Cuvier.[4]
Mosasaurus missouriensis Mosasaurus The Goldfuss Mosasaur MNHN 9587/RFWUIP 1327 Muséum national d'Histoire Naturelle/Goldfuß Museum Campanian DeGrey Formation (Pierre Shale Group)[5] South Dakota

(USA)

MNHN 9587 and RFWUIP were uncovered separately.[6] MNHN 9587 was originally assessed as 'Ichtyosaurus missouriensis',[7] while RFWUIP 1327 was described as 'Mosasaurus maximiliani'.[8] Later both specimens were confirmed to belong to the same individual and the species name was established.
Skull of Mosasaurus missouriensis holotype RFWUIP 1327 with a cast of MNHN 9587.
Sarabosaurus dahli Sarabosaurus UMNH VP21800[9] Natural History Museum of Utah Turonian Tropic Shale Utah (USA)
Tylosaurus proriger Tylosaurus MCZ 4374 Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts Niobrara Formation Kansas

(USA)

The specimen consists of the anterior portion of a skull, cranial fragments and thirteen vertebrae.[10] The species was originally named Macrosaurus proriger.

References

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  1. ^ "Fossil found on the side of the road is a new species of mosasaur | Ars Technica". 2023-10-30. Archived from the original on 2023-10-30. Retrieved 2024-01-15.
  2. ^ Zietlow, Amelia R.; Boyd, Clint A.; Van Vranken, Nathan E. (June 2023). Supplemental material for 'Jormungandr walhallaensis : a new mosasaurine (Squamata: Mosasauroidea) from the Pierre Shale Formation (Pembina Member: Middle Campanian) of North Dakota (Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 464)' (Report). American Museum of Natural History Research Library. doi:10.5531/sd.sp.60. hdl:2246/7333.
  3. ^ a b Bardet, Nathalie; Jagt, John W. M. (1996). "Mosasaurus hoffmanni, le ""Grand Animal fossile des Carrières de Maestricht"" : deux siècles d'histoire". Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Section C. Série 4. 18 (4): 569–593.
  4. ^ a b Street, Hallie P.; Caldwell, Michael W. (May 2017). "Rediagnosis and redescription of Mosasaurus hoffmannii (Squamata: Mosasauridae) and an assessment of species assigned to the genus Mosasaurus". Geological Magazine. 154 (3): 521–557. Bibcode:2017GeoM..154..521S. doi:10.1017/S0016756816000236. ISSN 0016-7568. S2CID 88324947.
  5. ^ Patrick, Doreena; Martin, James E.; Parris, David C.; Grandstaff, David E. (2007). "Rare earth element determination of the stratigraphic position of the holotype of Mosasaurus missouriensis (Harlan), the first named fossil reptile from the American West". The Geology and Paleontology of the Late Cretaceous Marine Deposits of the Dakotas. Vol. 427. pp. 155–165. doi:10.1130/2007.2427(11). ISBN 9780813724270.
  6. ^ Caldwell, M. W.; Bell, G. L. (September 2005). "Of German princes and North American rivers: Harlan's lost mosasaur snout rediscovered". Netherlands Journal of Geosciences. 84 (3): 207–211. doi:10.1017/S0016774600020989. ISSN 0016-7746. S2CID 132033274.
  7. ^ Harlan, Richard (1834). "Notice of the Discovery of the Remains of the Ichthyosaurus in Missouri, N. A." Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 4: 405–408. doi:10.2307/1004839. ISSN 0065-9746. JSTOR 1004839.
  8. ^ Goldfuss, August (1845). Der Schädelbau des Mosasaurus, durch Beschreibung einer neuen Art dieser Gattung erläutert (in German).
  9. ^ Polcyn, Michael J.; Bardet, Nathalie; Albright, L. Barry; Titus, Alan (2023-06-14). "A new lower Turonian mosasaurid from the Western Interior Seaway and the antiquity of the unique basicranial circulation pattern in Plioplatecarpinae". Cretaceous Research. 151: 105621. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105621. ISSN 0195-6671. S2CID 259181616.
  10. ^ Cope, Edward Drinker. "Remarks on Macrosaurus proriger". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 11: 123.
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