Hainosaurus

Hainosaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 70.6–68 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Skull, Natural History Museum of Bruxelles
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Mosasauridae
Subfamily:	Tylosaurinae
Genus:	Hainosaurus Dollo, 1885
Species
H. bernardi Dollo, 1885 (type species) H. newmilleri Martin, 2007

Hainosaurus is an extinct genus of marine lizard belonging to the mosasaur family. It is one of the largest mosasaurs, though its size has been revised more than once. At first it was estimated to be 17 metres (56 ft), and the largest mosasaurid.^[1] During the 1990s, its size was revised to 15 metres (49 ft) long;^[2] more recently, Johan Lindgren estimated that it reached lengths of up to 12.2 metres (40 ft).^[3] It was one of the top marine predators of the Late Cretaceous. Like other giant mosasaurs, this giant predator preyed on turtles, plesiosaurs, pterosaurs, cephalopods, sharks, fish, and smaller mosasaurs.

Hainosaurus is a member of the subfamily Tylosaurinae, and it is related to the wholly North American Tylosaurus. However, it has more vertebrae from the neck to the part of the tail with chevrons (53) than Tylosaurus (35). Both genera are large marine superpredators. Hainosaurus' tail has less chevron-bearing vertebrae, making it shorter than that of Tylosaurus. The only known and type species of Hainosaurus is H. bernardi, named after the Belgian Léopold Bernard, owner of the phosphate chalk exploitation where the fossil was unearthed.^[4] In a paper published in 2016, Hainosaurus was considered congeneric with Tylosaurus.^[5]

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  Restoration

References