Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vvkck Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T01:58:35.490Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Halisaurus sternbergi, a small mosasaur with an intercontinental distribution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2017

Johan Lindgren  and
Mikael Siverson
Johan Lindgren
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Lithosphere and Biosphere Science, GeoBiosphere Science Centre, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden Geological Museum, University of Copenhagen, øster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark,
Mikael Siverson
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Western Australian Museum, Francis Street, Perth 6000, Western Australia,
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Remains of Halisaurus sternbergi (Wiman, 1920) from the latest Early Campanian (sensu germanico) of the Kristianstad Basin, southern Sweden, represent the first record of this species outside of the USA. The material comprises numerous marginal tooth-crowns, a premaxilla, an incomplete pterygoid, and vertebrae. The Kristianstad Basin population of H. sternbergi was probably derived from individuals that migrated from the Mississippi Embayment in North America sometime during the Early Campanian. Even though H. sternbergi thrived in great numbers in the coastal waters of the southern part of the Baltic Shield during the latest Early Campanian, the population appears to have been short-lived. Available data indicate that H. sternbergi, along with several other species of mosasaurs, vanished from the region following an intercontinental mosasaur extinction event, or a series of events, near the Early/Late Campanian boundary.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 79 , Issue 4 , July 2005 , pp. 763 - 773
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baird, D. 1986a. Halisaurus and Prognathodon, two uncommon mosasaurs from the Upper Cretaceous of New Jersey. The Mosasaur, 3:37–45.Google Scholar
Baird, D. 1986b. Upper Cretaceous reptiles from the Severn Formation of Maryland. The Mosasaur, 3:63–85.Google Scholar
Baird, D., and Case, G. R. 1966. Rare marine reptiles from the Cretaceous of New Jersey. Journal of Paleontology, 40:1211–1215.Google Scholar
Bardet, N., and Pereda Suberbiola, X. 2001. The basal mosasaurid Halisaurus sternbergii from the Late Cretaceous of Kansas (North America): A review of the Uppsala type specimen. Earth and Planetary Sciences, 332:395–402.Google Scholar
Bardet, N., Pereda Suberbiola, X., Iarochene, M., Bouya, B., and Amaghzaz, M. 2005. A new species of Halisaurus from the Late Cretaceous phosphates of Morocco, and the phylogenetical relationships of the Halisaurinae. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 143:447–472.Google Scholar
Bell, G. L. 1997. A phylogenetic revision of North American and Adriatic Mosasauroidea, p. 293–332. In Callaway, J. M. and Nicholls, E. L. (eds.), Ancient Marine Reptiles. Academic Press, San Diego.Google Scholar
Bergström, J., and Sundquist, B. 1978. Kritberggrunden, p. 55–99. In Kornfält, K.-A., Bergström, J., Carserud, L., Henkel, H., and Sundquist, B. (eds.), Beskrivning till berggrundskartan och flygmagnetiska kartan Kristianstad SO. Sveriges Geologiska Undersökning, Af 121:1–120. (In Swedish) Google Scholar
Caldwell, M. W., and Bell, G. L. 1995. Halisaurus sp. (Mosasauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous (?Santonian) of east-central Peru, and the taxonomic utility of mosasaur cervical vertebrae. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 15:532–544.Google Scholar
Christensen, W. K. 1975. Upper Cretaceous belemnites from the Kristianstad area in Scania. Fossils and Strata, 7:1–69.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1868. On new species of extinct reptiles. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 20:181.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1869. On the reptilian orders, Pythonomorpha and Streptosauria. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, 12:250–266.Google Scholar
Dollo, L. 1885. Le hainosaure. Revue des Questions Scientifiques, 18:285–289.Google Scholar
Dollo, L. 1889. Première note sur les mosasauriens de Mesvin. Bulletin de la Société belge de Géologie, de Paléontologie et d'Hydrologie, 3:271–304.Google Scholar
Erlström, M., and Gabrielson, J. 1986. The Upper Cretaceous clastic deposits of Ullstorp, Kristianstad Basin, Scania. Geologiska Föreningens i Stockholm Förhandlingar, 107:241–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erlström, M., and Gabrielson, J. 1992. Petrology, fossil composition and depositional history of the Ignaberga limestone, Kristianstad Basin, Scania. Sveriges Geologiska Undersökning, Ca 80:1–30.Google Scholar
Gervais, P. 1853. Observations relatives aux reptiles fossiles de France. Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Seances de l'Académie des Sciences, 36:374–377, 470–474.Google Scholar
Grönwall, K. A. 1915. Nordöstra Skånes kaolin- och kritbildningar samt deras praktiska användning. Sveriges Geologiska Undersökning, C, 261:1–185. (In Swedish) Google Scholar
Holmes, R. B., and Sues, H.-D. 2000. A partial skeleton of the basal mosasaur Halisaurus platyspondylus from the Severn Formation (Upper Cretaceous: Maastrichtian) of Maryland. Journal of Paleontology, 74:309–316.Google Scholar
Jeppsson, L., Anehus, R., and Fredholm, D. 1999. The optimal acetate buffered acetic acid technique for extracting phosphatic fossils. Journal of Paleontology, 73:964–972.Google Scholar
Kiernan, C. R. 2002. Stratigraphic distribution and habitat segregation of mosasaurs in the Upper Cretaceous of western and central Alabama, with an historical review of Alabama mosasaur discoveries. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 22:91–103.Google Scholar
Lidmar-Bergström, K. 1982. Pre-Quaternary geomorphological evolution in southern Fennoscandia. Sveriges Geologiska Undersökning, C, 785:1–202.Google Scholar
Lindgren, J., 2004. Stratigraphical distribution of Campanian and Maastrichtian mosasaurs in Sweden—evidence of an intercontinental marine extinction event? GFF, 126:221–229.Google Scholar
Lindgren, J., and Siverson, M. 2002. Tylosaurus ivoensis: A giant mosasaur from the Early Campanian of Sweden. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, 93:73–93.Google Scholar
Lindgren, J., and Siverson, M. 2003. A possibly global mosasaur extinction event at the Lower/Upper Campanian boundary. GFF, 125:107. (Abstract only) Google Scholar
Lindgren, J., and Siverson, M. 2004. The first record of the mosasaur Clidastes from Europe and its palaeogeographical implications. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 49:219–234.Google Scholar
Lingham-Soliar, T. 1991. Mosasaurs from the Upper Cretaceous of Niger. Palaeontology, 34:653–670.Google Scholar
Lingham-Soliar, T. 1992. The tylosaurine mosasaurs (Reptilia, Mosasauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous of Europe and Africa. Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Sciences de la Terre, 62:171–194.Google Scholar
Lingham-Soliar, T. 1996. The first description of Halisaurus (Reptilia Mosasauridae) from Europe, from the Upper Cretaceous of Belgium. Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Sciences de la Terre, 66:129–136.Google Scholar
Lingham-Soliar, T. 1998. A new mosasaur Pluridens walkeri from the Upper Cretaceous, Maastrichtian of the Iullemmeden Basin, southwest Niger. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 18:709–717.Google Scholar
Lundegren, A. 1934. Kristianstadsområdets kritbildningar. Geologiska Föreningens i Stockholm Förhandlingar, 56:125–313. (In Swedish) Google Scholar
Marsh, O. C. 1869. Notice of some new mosasauroid reptiles from the Greensand of New Jersey. American Journal of Science and Arts, 48:392–397.Google Scholar
Marsh, O. C. 1870. Remarks on Hadrosaurus minor, Mosasaurus crassidens, Liodon laticaudus, Baptosaurus, and Rhinoceros matutinus . Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1870:2–3.Google Scholar
Marsh, O. C. 1872. Note on Rhinosaurus . American Journal of Science and Arts (third series), 4:147.Google Scholar
Merriam, J. C. 1894. Ueber die Pythonomorphen der Kansas-Kreide. Palaeontographica, 41:1–39.Google Scholar
Mulder, E. W. A. 1999. Transatlantic latest Cretaceous mosasaurs (Reptilia, Lacertilia) from the Maastrichtian type area and New Jersey. Geologie en Mijnbouw, 78:281–300.Google Scholar
Norling, E. 1981. Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous geology of Sweden. Geologiska Föreningens i Stockholm Förhandlingar, 103:253–269.Google Scholar
Norling, E., and Skoglund, R. 1977. Der Südwestrand der Osteuropäischen tafel im bereich Schwedens. Zeitschrift für Angewandte Geologie, 23:449–458.Google Scholar
Rees, J. 1999. Late Cretaceous hybodont sharks from the Kristianstad Basin, southern Sweden. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie. Monatshefte, 1999:257–270.Google Scholar
Russell, D. A. 1967. Systematics and morphology of American mosasaurs (Reptilia, Sauria). Peabody Museum of Natural History, Bulletin (Yale University), 23:1–241.Google Scholar
Russell, D. A. 1970. The vertebrate fauna of the Selma Formation of Alabama. Pt. VII, The mosasaurs. Fieldana: Geology Memoirs, 3:365–380.Google Scholar
Russell, D. A. 1994. Vertebrates in the Cretaceous Western Interior Sea, p. 665–680. In Caldwell, W. G. E. and Kauffman, E. G. (eds.), Evolution of the Western Interior Basin. Geological Association of Canada Special Paper, 39. (Misdated 1993) Google Scholar
Siverson, M. 1992a. Late Cretaceous Paraorthacodus (Palaeospinacidae, Neoselachii) from Sweden. Journal of Paleontology, 66:994–1001.Google Scholar
Siverson, M. 1992b. Biology, dental morphology and taxonomy of lamniform sharks from the Campanian of the Kristianstad Basin, Sweden. Palaeontology, 35:519–554.Google Scholar
Surlyk, F., and Christensen, W. K. 1974. Epifaunal zonation on an Upper Cretaceous rocky coast. Geology, 2:529–534.Google Scholar
Williston, S. W. 1898. Mosasaurs. University Geological Survey of Kansas, 4:83–221.Google Scholar
Wiman, C. 1920. Some reptiles from the Niobrara Group in Kansas. Bulletin of the Geological Institute of Uppsala, 18:9–18.Google Scholar
Yakovlev, N. 1901. Restes d'un mosasaurien trouvé dans le Crétacé Supérieur du sud de la Russie. U.S.S.R. Geologieskij Komitet; Izvestiâ, 20:507–520. (In Russian) Google Scholar