In Depth
Haasiasaurus was originally named as Haasia in 1999, but when it realised that Haasia had already been used to name a genus of millipede, the mosasaur needed to be renamed, hence the change to Haasiasaurus in 2003. As a mosasaur, Haasiasaurus would have been a predator of fish and other marine reptiles.
Further Reading
- The Cretaceous biogeography of the Eastern Mediterranean with a description of a new basal mosasauroid from ‘Ein Yabrud, Israel, by M. J. Polcyn, E. Tchernov & L.L. Jacobs. In Proceedings of the Second Gondwanan Dinosaur Symposium. National Science Museum Monographs, Tokyo, Japan. (15)259-290, (Y. Tomida, T.H. Rich & P. Vickers-Rich eds). - Haasiasaurus gen. nov., a new generic name for the basal mosasauroid Haasia Polcyn et al., 1999. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 23(2):476. - M. J. Polcyn, E. Tchernov & L. L. Jacobs - 2003.