Genus
Valid Extinct

Taniwhasaurus

Hector 1874

Taniwhasaurus is an extinct genus of mosasaurs that lived during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. It is a member of the subfamily Tylosaurinae, a lineage of mosasaurs characterized by a long toothless conical rostrum. Two valid species are attached to the genus, T. oweni and T. antarcticus, known respectively from the fossil record of present-day New Zealand and Antarctica. T. 'capensis' from present-day South Africa represents a chimera of two different mosasaur genera, potentially Prognathodon and Taniwhasaurus, but not identifiable at the species level. The other formerly assigned species, T. 'mikasaensis' from present-day Japan, remains problematic due to the fragmentary state of the attributed fossils. The generic name literally means "taniwha lizard", referring to a supernatural aquatic creature from Māori mythology.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
11
Group
Mosasaures
Carnivore aquatic Terrestrial
Taniwhasaurus
click to enlarge
A Taniwhasaurus antarcticus skeletal mount on display at the Field Museum of Natural History. © Jonathan Chen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia
PBDB ↗ Wikipedia ↗
Classification
Mosasauridae Family
›
Tylosaurinae Subfamily
›
Taniwhasaurus Genus
Fossil sites 11 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇳🇿 New Zealand
5
🇦🇶 Antarctica
3
🇯🇵 Japan
2
🇿🇦 South Africa
1
Geological formations
Conway
4
Snow Hill Island
3
Conway Siltstone
1
Haborogawa
1
Kashima
1
Temporal distribution
Maastrichtian (72.2–66 Ma)
3
Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)
7
Santonian (85.7–83.6 Ma)
1
Species (4)
Taniwhasaurus antarcticus 84 Ma
Taniwhasaurus mikasaensis 86 Ma
Taniwhasaurus oweni 86 Ma
Tylosaurus haumuriensis subjective synonym of Taniwhasaurus oweni 86 Ma
Synonyms (1)
Lakumasaurus subjective synonym of Taniwhasaurus
Images 3
Bibliography
Original description
J. Hector. 1874. On the fossil Reptilia of New Zealand. Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand 6:333-358
Bibliography (8)
M. R. Woolley, A. Chinsamy, and M. W. Caldwell. 2022. Unraveling the taxonomy of the South African mosasaurids. Frontiers in Earth Science 10:971968:1-22 DOI ↗
M. S. Fernández and Z. Gasparini. 2012. Campanian and Maastrichtian mosasaurs from Antarctic Peninsula and Patagonia, Argentina. Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France 183(2):93-102 DOI ↗
M. W. Caldwell, T. Konishi, and I. Obata, K. Muramoto. 2008. A new species of Taniwhasaurus (Mosasauridae, Tylosaurinae) from the Upper Santonian-Lower Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) of Hokkaido, Japan. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28(2):339-348 DOI ↗
M. W. Caldwell, R. Holmes, and G. L. Bell, Jr, J. Wiffen. 2005. An unusual tylosaurine mosasaur from New Zealand: a new skull of Taniwhasaurus oweni (Lower Haumurian; Upper Cretaceous). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 25(2):393-401 DOI ↗
F. E. Novas, M. Fernández, and Z. B. d. Gasparini, J. M. Lirio, H. J. Nuñez, P. Puerta. 2002. Lakumasaurus antarcticus, n. gen. et sp., a new mosasaur (Reptilia, Squamata) from the Upper Cretaceous of Antarctica. Ameghiniana 39(2):245-249
G. Warren and I. Speden. 1977. The Piripauan and Haumurian stratotypes (Mata Series, Upper Cretaceous) and correlative sequences in the Haumuri Bluff District, South Marlborough. New Zealand Geological Survey Bulletin 92:1-60
S. P. Welles and D. R. Gregg. 1971. Late Cretaceous marine reptiles of New Zealand. Records of the Canterbury Museum 9(1):1-111
J. Hector. 1874. On the fossil Reptilia of New Zealand. Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand 6:333-358