Halisaurus

Name: Halisaurus ‭(‬Ocean lizard‭)‬.
Phonetic: Hal-e-sore-us.
Named By: Othniel Charles Marsh‭ ‬-‭ ‬1869.
Synonyms: Baptosaurus.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Squamata,‭ ‬Mosasauridae,‭ ‬Halisaurinae.
Species: H.‭ ‬arambourgi,‭ ‬H.‭ ‬onchognathus,‭ ‬H.‭ ‬platyspondylus.
Diet: Carnivore/Piscivore.
Size: Between‭ ‬3-4‭ ‬meters long,‭ ‬depending upon the species/individual.
Known locations: Angola.‭ ‬Belgium.‭ ‬Jordan.‭ ‬Morocco. ‬Peru.‭ ‬Sweden.‭ ‬USA.‭ ‬Zaire.
Time period: Campanian/Maastrichtian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Skull and post cranial skeletal remains of numerous individuals.




       Halisaurus was first named all the way back in‭ ‬1869‭ ‬during a period in American paleontological history today known as the‭ ‘‬bone wars‭’‬.‭ ‬However a year later Othniel Charles Marsh,‭ ‬the person who named Halisaurus,‭ ‬became aware of a genus of fish called Halosaurus and mistakenly came to the conclusion that Halisaurus was preoccupied,‭ ‬and so created the name Baptosaurus to replace it.‭ ‬However although very similar to Halisaurus,‭ ‬Halosaurus is still different enough not to cause a conflict,‭ ‬so Halisaurus was later resurrected as a valid name,‭ ‬while Baptosaurus is now a synonym to it.
       With individuals ranging between three and four meters in length,‭ ‬Halisaurus was towards the smaller end of the size scale for mosasaurs.‭ ‬Rather than being apex predators themselves,‭ ‬Halisaurus would have been mid-range predators that hunted more for fish and squid in open water.‭ ‬With a global distribution stretching from Peru to North America,‭ ‬Across to Africa and Northern Europe,‭ ‬as well as a temporal range spanning the Campanian and Maastrichtian of the Cretaceous,‭ ‬it is clear that Halisaurus can be credited with being one of the more successful mosasaur genera.

Further reading
-‭ ‬A new species of Halisaurus from the Late Cretaceous phosphates of Morocco,‭ ‬and the phylogenetical relationships of the Halisaurinae‭ (‬Squamata:‭ ‬Mosasauridae‭)‬.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society‭ ‬143:447-472.‭ ‬-‭ ‬N.‭ ‬Bardet,‭ ‬X.‭ ‬Pereda Suberbiola,‭ ‬M.‭ ‬Iarochene,‭ ‬B.‭ ‬Bouya‭ & ‬M.‭ ‬Amaghaz‭ ‬-‭ ‬2005.



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