Genus
Valid Extinct

Eremiasaurus

LeBlanc et al. 2012

Eremiasaurus is a genus of mosasaurs, an extinct group of marine reptiles, who lived during the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous. The first known fossils of this taxon were teeth discovered in the Ouled Abdoun Basin in Morocco, and described in 1952 by Camille Arambourg as coming from Mosasaurus. However, it was in 2012 that Aaron R. H. LeBlanc and his colleagues described the only known species, E. heterodontus, from two more or less complete skeletons that had been discovered in the same geological area as the teeth originally described by Arambourg. Subsequently, fossil teeth discovered in Israel, Brazil, and the Ganntour Basin in Morocco were subsequently attributed to the genus.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
7
Group
Mosasaures
Carnivore aquatic Terrestrial
Eremiasaurus
click to enlarge
Life restoration of the mosasaurine mosasaurid Eremiasaurus, with unknown portions and soft tissues based primarily on Prognathodon and supplemented with Mosasaurus where needed. References Leblanc, A.R.H.; Caldwell, M.W.; Bardet, N. (2012). "A new mosasaurine from the Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) phosphates of Morocco and its implications for mosasaurine systematics". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32 (1): 82–104. Lindgren, J.; Kaddumi, H.; Polcyn, M. (2013). "Soft tissue preservation in a fossil marine lizard with a bilobed tail fin". Nature Communications 4: 2423. DOI:10.1038/ncomms3423. Konishi, T.; Brinkman, D.; Massare, J.A.; Caldwell, M.W. (2011). "New exceptional specimens of Prognathodon overtoni (Squamata, Mosasauridae) from the upper Campanian of Alberta, Canada, and the systematics and ecology of the genus". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 31 (5): 1026–1046. Russell, D.A. (1967). "Systematics and morphology of American mosasaurs". Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 23: 1–241. © Slate Weasel · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia
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Classification
Mosasauridae Family
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Mosasaurinae Subfamily
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Mosasaurini Tribe
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Eremiasaurus Genus
Fossil sites 7 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇲🇦 Morocco
7
Geological formations
Phosphates
1
Couche III
1
Temporal distribution
Maastrichtian (72.2–66 Ma)
7
Species (1)
Eremiasaurus heterodontus 72 Ma
Images 2
Bibliography
Original description
A. R. H. LeBlanc, M. W. Caldwell, and N. Bardet. 2012. A new mosasaurine from the Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) phosphates of Morocco and its implications for mosasaurine systematics. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32(1):82-104 DOI ↗
Bibliography (2)
H. Cappetta, N. Bardet, and X. Pereda Suberbiola, S. Adnet, D. Akkrim, M. Amalik, A. Benabdallah. 2014. Marine vertebrate faunas from the Maastrichtian phosphates of Benguérir (Ganntour Basin, Morocco): Biostratigraphy, palaeobiogeography and palaeoecology. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 409:217-238 DOI ↗
A. R. H. LeBlanc, M. W. Caldwell, and N. Bardet. 2012. A new mosasaurine from the Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) phosphates of Morocco and its implications for mosasaurine systematics. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32(1):82-104 DOI ↗