Russellosaurus coheni n. gen., n. sp., a 92 million-year-old mosasaur from Texas (USA), and the definition of the parafamily Russellosaurina

Abstract

A new mosasaur, Russellosaurus coheni, is described from the Collignoniceras woollgari Zone (lower Middle Turonian) at Cedar Hill, Dallas County, Texas. At approximately 92 Ma, it is the oldest well-preserved mosasaur skull from North America. It possesses characters diagnostic of Plioplatecarpinae but retains numerous plesiomorphies as well. Phylogenetic analysis indicates a close relationship with Yaguarasaurus columbianus, and these two, together with Tethysaurus nopcsai, form a clade that occupies a position basal to the divergence of the subfamilies Tylosaurinae and Plioplatecarpinae. Russellosaurus coheni is proposed as the nominal taxon of a new mosasaur clade, parafamily taxon novum Russellosaurina, which includes Plioplatecarpinae, Tylosaurinae, their common ancestor and all descendants. Tethysaurus retains a plesiopedal limb and girdle morphology, and along with Russellosaurus and Yaguarasaurus, cranial plesiomorphies. Dallasaurus turneri, a temporally and geographically sympatric plesiopedal mosasaur, occupies a basal position within Mosasaurinae. This phyletic arrangement confirms that marine adaptations, such as development of paddle-like limbs, occurred independently in at least two lineages of mosasaurs, once within Mosasaurinae and once within Russellosaurina.