The First Freshwater Mosasauroid (Upper Cretaceous, Hungary) and a New Clade of Basal Mosasauroids

Makadi, L ✉ [Makádi, László (Őslénytan), author]; Caldwell, MW; Osi, A [Ősi, Attila (Gerinces paleonto...), author] MTA-ELTE Lendület Dinosaur Research Group (ELTE / ELU FoS)

English Article (Journal Article) Scientific
Published: PLOS ONE 1932-6203 7 (12) Paper: e51781 , 16 p. 2012
  • Pedagógiai Tudományos Bizottság: A
  • Szociológiai Tudományos Bizottság: A nemzetközi
  • Regionális Tudományok Bizottsága: B nemzetközi
  • SJR Scopus - Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous): D1
Subjects:
  • Biological sciences
  • Other agricultural sciences
  • Other medical sciences
  • Other natural sciences
  • Clinical medicine
Mosasauroids are conventionally conceived of as gigantic, obligatorily aquatic marine lizards (1000s of specimens from marine deposited rocks) with a cosmopolitan distribution in the Late Cretaceous (90-65 million years ago [mya]) oceans and seas of the world. Here we report on the fossilized remains of numerous individuals (small juveniles to large adults) of a new taxon, Pannoniasaurus inexpectatus gen. et sp. nov. from the Csehbanya Formation, Hungary (Santonian, Upper Cretaceous, 85.3-83.5 mya) that represent the first known mosasauroid that lived in freshwater environments. Previous to this find, only one specimen of a marine mosasauroid, cf. Plioplatecarpus sp., is known from non-marine rocks in Western Canada. Pannoniasaurus inexpectatus gen. et sp. nov. uniquely possesses a plesiomorphic pelvic anatomy, a non-mosasauroid but pontosaur-like tail osteology, possibly limbs like a terrestrial lizard, and a flattened, crocodile-like skull. Cladistic analysis reconstructs P. inexpectatus in a new clade of mosasauroids: (Pannoniasaurus (Tethysaurus (Yaguarasaurus, Russellosaurus))). P. inexpectatus is part of a mixed terrestrial and freshwater faunal assemblage that includes fishes, amphibians turtles, terrestrial lizards, crocodiles, pterosaurs, dinosaurs and birds.
Citation styles: IEEEACMAPAChicagoHarvardCSLCopyPrint
2025-07-13 23:14