Eonatator sternbergii (WIMAN 1920)
- Dataset
- A new species of Halisaurus from the Late Cretaceous phosphates of Morocco, and the phylogenetical relationships of the Halisaurinae (Squamata: Mosasauridae)
- Rank
- SPECIES
Classification
- kingdom
- Animalia
- phylum
- Chordata
- class
- Reptilia
- order
- Squamata
- family
- Mosasauridae
- genus
- Eonatator
- species
- Eonatator sternbergii
materials_examined
Holotype: UPI R 163, a nearly complete skeleton described by Wiman (1920). Type locality and horizon: Smoky Hill Member, Niobrara Chalk, Santonian (Late Cretaceous), Kansas (USA). Referred specimen: USNM 3777, incomplete skeleton, Smoky Hill Member, Niobrara Chalk, Santonian (Late Cretaceous), Beaver Creek, Logan County, Kansas (USA) (Russell, 1967: 126). Emended diagnosis: Ambiguous characters: premaxilla – maxilla lateral suture ending posterior to the 9 th maxillary teeth; tail about 40 % of the head and trunk length (convergent in mosasaurines); caudal vertebra length greater than width; fewer than four pygal vertebrae; femur length about twice distal width (convergent in Clidastes). Autapomorphies: parietal with smooth triangular table extending very far posteriorly, bearing medium-sized circular foramen, located at distance twice its diameter from the frontal – parietal suture, and surrounded anteriorly and posteriorly by two parallel ridges; rounded quadrate with regularly convex tympanic ala; vertebral formula: seven cervicals, 24 dorsals, four pygals, 28 median caudals and at least 41 terminal caudals; humerus length approximately 2.5 ¥ distal width.
Name
- Homonyms
- Eonatator sternbergii (WIMAN 1920)