Tethysaurus
Name:
Tethysaurus
(Tethys lizard).
Phonetic: Teh-fis-sore-us.
Named By: Nathalie Bardet, Xabier Pereda
Suberbiola & Nour-Eddine Jalil - 2003.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Squamata,
Mosasauridae, Russellosaurinae.
Species: T. nopscai (type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: 3 meters long.
Known locations: Morocco, Errachidia Province.
Time period: Early Turonian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Skull and almost complete
post cranial skeleton.
Tethysaurus
is a primitive (basal)
mosasaur that is considered to be related to
Russelosaurus
from North America and Yaguarasaurus
from South America.
Like these other two mosasaurs, Tethysaurus has
a mixture of both
primitive and advanced features that make it a primitive relative
to other later mosasaur groups, although not as primitive as
Dallasaurus
which is thought to be one the most primitive mosasaurs
known.
Tethysaurus
was named after Tethys, the ancient Greek goddess of the sea who
was also the inspiration for the name of the Tethys Ocean that once
separated Laurasia (the northern continents) from Gondwana (the
southern continents). The species name, T. nopscai,
is in
honour of the Hungarian palaeontologist Baron Ferenc Nopsca.
Further reading
- A new mosasauroid (Squamata) from the Late Cretaceous (Turonian) of
Morocco. - Comptes Rendus Palevol 2:607-616. - N. Bardet, X. Pereda
Suberbiola & N.-E. Jalil - 2003.
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