List of mosasaurs
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.
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. As this can be an extremely subjective and controversial designation, this term is not used on this list.
Mosasaur genera
See also
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Notes
- ^ Redescription of Acteosaurus tommasinii von Meyer, 1860, and a discussion of evolutionary trends within the clade Ophidiomorpha. 2010.
- ^ Stenocercus at Herpbreeder.com. Retrieved 12-03-2007.
- ^ Sauropterygia at Paleofile.com. Retrieved 12-03-2007.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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 - Geologie en Mijnbouw: 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