Angolasaurus
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Angolasaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous (Turonian - Maastrichtian) |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Superfamily: | †Mosasauroidea |
| Family: | †Mosasauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Plioplatecarpinae |
| Genus: |
†Angolasaurus Telles-Antunes, 1964 |
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Angolasaurus (Angola lizard) is an extinct genus of plioplatecarpine mosasaur. Definite remains from this genus have been recovered from the Turonian of Angola, and possibly the Turonian of the United States and Brazil, and the Maastrichtian of Niger. While at one point considered a species of Platecarpus, recent phylogenetic analyses have placed it between the plioplatecarpines Ectenosaurus and Selmasaurus, maintaining a basal position within the plioplatecarpinae. Its wide geographic range make it the one of the only Turonian Mosasaurs with a transatlantic range.
Angolasaurus was a small mosasaur, with a total length of about 4 meters (13 feet). It shared much of a body plan with its relative Platecarpus, but with a slightly longer skull relative to body length. Its skull housed 11 maxillary teeth, 4 premaxillary teeth, and 12 dentary teeth. The phylogenetic relationship of Angolasaurus indicates that individuals of this genus possessed a tail fluke, more forward-lying nostrils, and keeled scales for hydrodynamic efficiency.
Due to declining sea temperatures in the area that Angolasaurus inhabited, as well as the later Bientiaba locality, it has been hypothesized that it and the other mosasaurs inhabiting its region may have had an increased coverage of dark patterning on its dorsal surface to aid in thermoregulation.
First named in 1964 by Miguel Telles Antunes on the basis of a partial skull and skeleton, Angolasaurus was reassigned in 1994 to the genus Platecarpus. This placement was subsequently struck down in studies in 2005, which nested it within the plioplatecarpinae. Fieldwork between 2005 and 2009 recovered at least two new Angolasaurus skeletons. One new skull as well as the type skull were CT scanned to reveal intricate details of the interior braincase that allowed for a more concrete placement within the plioplatecarpinae.
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