Genus
Valid Extinct

Pluridens

Lingham-Soliar 1998

Pluridens is an extinct genus of marine lizard belonging to the Mosasauridae. Pluridens is placed in the subfamily Halisaurinae with the genera Phosphorosaurus, Eonatator and Halisaurus. Compared to related halisaurines, Pluridens had longer jaws with more teeth, and smaller eyes. It also grew large size, measuring 5–6 m (16–20 ft) long and perhaps over 9 m (30 ft) in some individuals. The jaws in some specimens are robust, and sometimes show injuries suggestive of combat. The jaws may have been used for fighting over mates or territories.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
4
Group
Mosasaures
Carnivore aquatic Terrestrial
Pluridens
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Wikimedia
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Mosasauridae Family
Halisaurinae Unranked clade
Pluridensini Unranked clade
Pluridens Genus
Fossil sites 4 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇲🇦 Morocco
2
🇳🇬 Nigeria
1
🇳🇪 Niger
1
Geological formations
Couche III
2
Nkporo Shale
1
Farin-Doutchi
1
Temporal distribution
Maastrichtian (72.2–66 Ma)
3
Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)
1
Species (4)
Pluridens calabaria 84 Ma
Pluridens imelaki 72 Ma
Pluridens serpentis 72 Ma
Pluridens walkeri 72 Ma
Images 1
Bibliography
Original description
T. Lingham-Soliar. 1998. A new mosasaur Pluridens walkeri from the Upper Cretaceous, Maastrichtian of the Iullemmeden Basin, southwest Niger. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 18(4):709-707 DOI ↗
Bibliography (4)
N. R. Longrich and N. Jalil. 2026. A Giant Halisaurine from the Late Maastrichtian of Morocco. Diversity 18(3):159 DOI ↗
N. R. Longrich, N. Bardet, and F. Khaldoune, O. Khadiri Yazami, N.-E. Jalil. 2021. Pluridens serpentis, a new mosasaurid (Mosasauridae: Halisaurinae) from the Maastrichtian of Morocco and implications for mosasaur diversity. Cretaceous Research DOI ↗
N. R. Longrich. 2016. A new species of Pluridens (Mosasauridae: Halisaurinae) from the upper Campanian of Southern Nigeria. Cretaceous Research 64:36-44 DOI ↗
T. Lingham-Soliar. 1998. A new mosasaur Pluridens walkeri from the Upper Cretaceous, Maastrichtian of the Iullemmeden Basin, southwest Niger. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 18(4):709-707 DOI ↗