Yaguarasaurus

Name: Yaguarasaurus ‭(‬Yaguará lizard‭)‬.
Phonetic: Ya-gu-a-rah-sore-us.
Named By: María Páramo‭ ‬-‭ ‬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
- Posición sistemática de un reptil marino con base en los restos fósiles encontrados en capas del Cretácico Superior en Yaguará (Huila).- Revista de la Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, v. 19, n. 72, p. 63-80. - M. E. Páramo - 1994.
- Yaguarasaurus columbianus (Reptilia, Mosasauridae), a primitive mosasaur from the Turonian (Upper Cretaceous) of Colombia. Historical Biology 14:121-131 - M. E. Páramo-Fonseca - 2000.

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