Yaguarasaurus
Name:
Yaguarasaurus
(Yaguar� lizard).
Phonetic: Ya-gu-a-rah-sore-us.
Named By: Mar�a P�ramo - 1994.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Squamata,
Mosasauridae, Plioplatercarpinae.
Species: Y. columbianus (type).
Diet: Carnivore/Piscivore.
Size: Holotype skull is 47 centimetres long that
when compared to partial post cranial remains suggest a total length of
5 meters. A second skull that is 87 centimetres long indicates a longer
9 meter long individual when scaled to the same estimated proportions
as
the holotype.
Known locations: Colombia - Villeta Formation.
Time period: Turoniam of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Articulated skull with some
post cranial skeletal elements of vertebrae and ribs. Second skull also
known.
Whereas mosasaurs are usually represented by the larger forms such as Mosasaurus hunting and killing other marine reptiles, Yaguarasaurus as a plioplatercarpine would have used speed to hunt smaller and faster prey such as fish. To date even though the fossil material for Yaguarasaurus is largely incomplete, it still remains one of the best examples of mosasaurs being present around the coast of Cretaceous South America. Study of these remains has found that Yaguarasaurus is probably most closely related to Russellosaurus and Tethysaurus.
Further reading
- Posici�n sistem�tica de un reptil marino con base en los restos
f�siles encontrados en capas del Cret�cico Superior en Yaguar�
(Huila).- Revista de la Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas,
F�sicas y Naturales, v. 19, n. 72, p. 63-80. - M. E. P�ramo - 1994.
- Yaguarasaurus columbianus (Reptilia,
Mosasauridae), a primitive
mosasaur from the Turonian (Upper Cretaceous) of Colombia. Historical
Biology 14:121-131 - M. E. P�ramo-Fonseca - 2000.
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