Basic info Taxonomic history Classification Included Taxa
Morphology Ecology and taphonomy External Literature Search Age range and collections

Mosasaurus

Reptilia - Mosasauridae

Taxonomy
Mosasaurus was named by Parkinson (1822) [Name ascribed to Conybeare in this reference.]. It is the type genus of Mosasauridae.

It was assigned to Enaliosauri by Parkinson (1822); to Ameivoidea by Fitzinger (1826); to Saurii by Meyer (1845); to Lacertinidae by d'Orbigny (1849); to Natantia by Owen (1851); to Lacertilia by Owen (1842) and Owen (1861); to Mosasauria by Leidy (1873); to Mosasauridae by Gervais (1852), Cope (1869), McDowell and Bogert (1954), Suzuki (1985), Carroll (1988) and Kiernan (1992); to Squamata by Sepkoski (2002); to Mosasaurini by Russell (1967), Thurmond (1969) and LeBlanc et al. (2012); to Plotosaurini by Fernández et al. (2008) and Mateus et al. (2012); and to Mosasaurinae by Hay (1902), Hay (1930), Antunes (1964), Baird and Case (1966), Welles and Gregg (1971), Thurmond and Jones (1981), Wiffen (1990), Lingham-Soliar (1995), Dortangs et al. (2002), Novas et al. (2002), Bardet et al. (2004), Bell and Polcyn (2005), Bardet et al. (2005), Martin and Crame (2006), Street and Caldwell (2017), González Ruiz et al. (2019) and Driscoll et al. (2019).

Synonyms
Synonymy list
YearName and author
1822Mosasaurus Parkinson p. 306
1826Mosasaurus Fitzinger p. 21
1839Batrachiosaurus Harlan p. 24
1839Batrachotherium Harlan p. 90
1842Mosasaurus Owen p. 144
1845Mosasaurus Meyer p. 283
1849Macrosaurus Owen p. 382
1849Mosasaurus d'Orbigny p. 208
1851Mosasaurus Owen p. 29
1852Mosasaurus Gervais p. 261
1853Macrosaurus Gervais p. 472
1856Drepanodon impar Leidy p. 255
1861Drepanodon Leidy
1861Lesticodus Leidy p. 10
1861Mosasaurus Owen p. 311
1865Baseodon reversus Leidy
1865Baseodon Leidy p. 69
1868Nectoportheus Cope p. 181
1869Macrosaurus Cope p. 260
1869Mosasaurus Cope p. 260
1869Mosasaurus impar Cope p. 261
1873Mosasaurus Leidy p. 343
1882Pterycollosaurus Dollo p. 61
1902Mosasaurus Hay p. 464
1902Macrosaurus Hay p. 471
1930Macrosaurus Hay p. 259
1930Mosasaurus Hay p. 261
1930Nectoportheus Hay p. 264
1930Amphekepubis Mehl p. 383
1954Amphekepubis McDowell and Bogert p. 132
1954Macrosaurus McDowell and Bogert p. 132
1954Mosasaurus McDowell and Bogert p. 132
1954Nectoportheus McDowell and Bogert p. 132
1964Mosasaurus Antunes p. 165
1966Mosasaurus Baird and Case p. 1213
1967Macrosaurus Miller p. 229
1967Mosasaurus Russell p. 131
1967Amphekepubis Russell p. 141
1969Mosasaurus Thurmond p. 70
1971Mosasaurus Welles and Gregg p. 79
1981Mosasaurus Thurmond and Jones p. 158
1985Mosasaurus Suzuki p. 46
1988Amphekepubis Carroll
1988Mosasaurus Carroll
1990Mosasaurus Wiffen p. 72
1992Mosasaurus Kiernan p. 137
1995Mosasaurus Lingham-Soliar
2002Mosasaurus Dortangs et al.
2002Mosasaurus Novas et al.
2002Amphekepubis Sepkoski
2002Mosasaurus Sepkoski
2004Mosasaurus Bardet et al. p. 316
2005Mosasaurus Bardet et al.
2005Mosasaurus Bell and Polcyn p. 189
2006Mosasaurus Martin and Crame p. 113
2008Mosasaurus Fernández et al. p. 179
2012Mosasaurus LeBlanc et al.
2012Mosasaurus Mateus et al.
2017Mosasaurus Street and Caldwell p. 524
2019Mosasaurus Driscoll et al.
2019Mosasaurus González Ruiz et al. p. 3

Is something missing? Join the Paleobiology Database and enter the data

RankNameAuthor
kingdomAnimalia()
—Bilateria
—EubilateriaAx 1987
—Deuterostomia
phylumChordataHaeckel 1874
subphylumVertebrata
superclassGnathostomata
—Osteichthyes()
subclassSarcopterygii()
subclassDipnotetrapodomorpha(Nelson 2006)
subclassTetrapodomorpha()
—Tetrapoda
RankNameAuthor
—Reptiliomorpha
—Anthracosauria
subclassAmphibiosauriaKuhn 1967
—Cotylosauria()
—Amniota
—Sauropsida
classReptilia
—Squamata()
familyMosasauridae
subfamilyMosasaurinaeGervais 1853
genusMosasaurus

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. †Mosasaurus Parkinson 1822
show all | hide all
†Mosasaurus beaugei Arambourg 1952
†Mosasaurus caroliniensis Gibbes 1851
†Mosasaurus conodon Cope 1881
†Mosasaurus couperi Gibbes 1851
†Mosasaurus dekayi Bronn 1838
+
Invalid names: Mosasaurus major DeKay 1842 [synonym], Mosasaurus meirsii Marsh 1869 [synonym]
†Mosasaurus depressus Cope 1869
+
Invalid names: Halisaurus fraternus Marsh 1869 [synonym], Mosasaurus copeanus Marsh 1869 [synonym]
†Mosasaurus flemingi Wiffen 1990
†Mosasaurus gaudryi Thevenin 1896
†Mosasaurus gracilis Owen 1850
†Mosasaurus grosjeani Greppin 1870
†Mosasaurus hobetsuensis Suzuki 1985
†Mosasaurus hoffmannii Mantell 1829
+
Invalid names: Mosasaurus belgicus Holl 1829 [synonym], Mosasaurus camperi Meyer 1832 [synonym], Mosasaurus maximus Cope 1869 [synonym]
†Mosasaurus horridus Williston 1895
†Mosasaurus ivoensis Russell 1967
†Mosasaurus lemonnieri Dollo 1889
†Mosasaurus lonzeensis Dollo 1904
†Mosasaurus minor Gibbes 1851
†Mosasaurus missouriensis Harlan 1834
+
Invalid names: Mosasaurus maximilliani Goldfuss 1845 [synonym], Mosasaurus neovidii von Meyer 1845 [synonym]
†Mosasaurus mokoroa Welles and Gregg 1971
+
Invalid names: Leiodon haumuriensis Hector 1874 [synonym]
†Mosasaurus occidentalis Morton 1844
†Mosasaurus prismaticus Sakurai et al. 1999
†Mosasaurus scanicus Schröder 1885
Invalid names: Amphekepubis Mehl 1930 [synonym], Baseodon Leidy 1865 [synonym], Batrachiosaurus Harlan 1839 [synonym], Batrachotherium Harlan 1839 [synonym], Drepanodon Leidy 1861 [synonym], Lesticodus Leidy 1861 [synonym], Macrosaurus Owen 1849 [synonym], Mosasaurus impar Leidy 1856 [nomen dubium], Mosasaurus reversus Leidy 1865 [nomen dubium], Nectoportheus Cope 1868 [synonym], Pterycollosaurus Dollo 1882 [synonym]
Diagnosis
ReferenceDiagnosis
E. D. Cope 1869The dorsal vertebrae more or less depressed; the articular faces transversely ovate; pterygoid teeth in alveoli.
E. D. Cope 1869 (Macrosaurus)The dorsal vertebrae compressed, the body elongate.
H. P. Street and M. W. Caldwell 2017Premaxilla with short, conical edentulous rostrum; maxilla with little to no excavation for external naris; jugal with bowed an- terior ramus and reduced but distinct posteroventral process; prefrontal and postorbitofrontal meeting vent- ral to frontal thereby excluding frontal from margin of orbit; posteromedial processes of frontal deeply in- vading parietal to embrace parietal foramen; pterygoid tooth row straight; quadrate taller than long with sta- pedial notch located dorsal to midpoint of shaft; short suprastapedial process, infrastapedial process reduced to bump on posteromedial surface of shaft; stapedial pit oval, oriented obliquely to vertical axis of shaft; quad- rate tympanic rim grooved with distinct anterodorsal corner; dentary with short, round edentulous projec- tion; angular decreasing rapidly in height, laterally vis- ible only short length of post-dentary unit; coronoid with tall dorsal process and posterior margin posteri- orly curved in lateral view; surangular tall with steeply ascending coronoid buttress that can exhibit dorsal excavations or prominences; retroarticular rotated laterally towards horizontal; marginal teeth faceted labially, bicarinate; cervical centra round; caudal ver- tebrae with fused chevrons; scapula and coracoid sube- qual in size; scapula longer posteriorly than anteriorly; humerus postglenoid process robust and offset; distal length greater than height radial facet straight, ulnar facet convex; pubis with anteriorly projecting tubercle on proximal shaft.