Mosasaur

Mosasaur Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 101–66 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Clade:	Platynota
Superfamily:	†Mosasauroidea Gervais, 1853
Subgroups
†Aigialosauridae †Mosasauridae Gervais, 1853 †Halisaurinae †Natantia Owen, 1851 †Mosasaurinae †Russellosaurina †Carsosaurus †Haasiasaurus †Komensaurus †Plioplatecarpinae †Tethysaurinae †Tylosaurinae †Yaguarasaurinae

Mosasaurs were large, predatory marine reptiles of the Late Cretaceous. The first fossil mosasaur, Mosasaurus hoffmanni, was found in the Netherlands in 1776.^[1]p7 It was named in 1822 by W.D. Conybeare.

For the last 20 million years of the Cretaceous period after the extinction of the ichthyosaurs and pliosaurs, mosasaurs became the dominant marine predators. They became extinct at the K-Pg event at the end of the Cretaceous period, about 66 million years ago.

1. ↑ Benton M. 1990. The reign of the reptiles. Crescent, N.Y.