Angolasaurus

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Extinct genus of lizards

title: "Angolasaurus" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["russellosaurins", "maastrichtian-genus-extinctions", "mosasaurs-of-africa", "mosasaurs-of-north-america", "fossils-of-angola", "cretaceous-niger", "fossils-of-niger", "fossil-taxa-described-in-1964", "taxa-named-by-miguel-telles-antunes", "mosasaurs-of-south-america", "turonian-genus-first-appearances", "coniacian-genera", "santonian-genera", "campanian-genera"] description: "Extinct genus of lizards" topic_path: "general/russellosaurins" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angolasaurus" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Extinct genus of lizards ::

| fossil_range = Turonian-Coniacian

| image = Angolasaurus NMNH.jpg | image_caption = Partial skeleton (MGUAN-PA 065) at the National Museum of Natural History | display_parents = 2 | genus = Angolasaurus | parent_authority = Antunes, 1964 | species = bocagei | authority = Antunes, 1964 | synonyms =

  • Platecarpus bocagei Lingham-Soliar, 1994 | synonyms_ref =

Angolasaurus ("Angola lizard") is an extinct genus of mosasaur. Definite remains from this genus have been recovered from the Turonian and Coniacian of Angola, and possibly the Coniacian of the United States, the Turonian of Brazil, and the Maastrichtian of Niger. While at one point considered a species of Platecarpus,

Its wide geographic range make it one of the only Turonian mosasaurs with a transatlantic range.

Description

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Angolasaurus_artwork.jpg" caption="Life reconstruction of ''Angolasaurus'' alongside its contemporary, ''[[Angolachelys]]''"] ::

Angolasaurus was a small mosasaur, with a skull length estimated at 40 cm, suggesting a possible total length of about 4 meters (13 feet) based on the ratio provided by Russell (1967). It shared much of a body plan with its relative Platecarpus, but with a slightly longer skull relative to body length. and keeled scales for hydrodynamic efficiency.

Due to declining sea temperatures in the area that Angolasaurus inhabited, as well as the later Bientiaba locality, it has been hypothesized that it and the other mosasaurs inhabiting its region may have had an increased coverage of dark patterning on its dorsal surface to aid in thermoregulation.

History of discovery

First named in 1964 by Miguel Telles Antunes on the basis of a partial skull and skeleton, Angolasaurus was reassigned in 1994 to the genus Platecarpus.

In 2007, two individuals from the Eagle Ford Formation of Texas were described as belonging to the genus Angolasaurus, one of which preserved part of the hyoid apparatus. The same abstract assigned two teeth previously assigned to Platecarpus to Angolasaurus. These teeth came from the Sergipe Basin of Brazil, and are virtually indistinguishable from those found in the holotype of Angolasaurus bocagei. These discoveries made Angolasaurus the first known Turonian mosasaur genus with a transatlantic distribution.

Paleoecology

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Angolasaurus_cráneo.png" caption="Reconstruction of holotype (SGMA 12/60) based on Antunes (1964)"] ::

Angola

Angolasaurus bocagei, recovered only from the Itombe Formation, shared its habitat with the tylosaurine species Tylosaurus (formerly Mosasaurus) iembeensis and the durophagous shallow-water turtle Angolachelys. Indeterminate halisaurine and plesiosaur remains have also been recovered from this region. Terrestrial fauna consisted solely of the sauropod Angolatitan.

Niger

Known from the Dukamaje Formation on the basis of a few vertebrae of varying ontogenetic stages, Angolasaurus coexisted here with fellow plioplatecarpine genera Platecarpus and Plioplatecarpus, the globidensine genus Igdamanosaurus, the halisaurine genus Halisaurus, the mosasaurine genus Mosasaurus, and the mosasaurid genus Goronyosaurus.

United States

Angolasaurus is known from the Eagle Ford Formation of Texas. Other Turonian aquatic reptiles from the Eagle Ford Formation include the plesiosaurs Polyptychodon, Libonectes, Cimoliasaurus, and Plesiosaurus, and the mosasaur Clidastes. Indeterminate mosasaur and plesiosaur remains are also known from here.

References

References

  1. (2007). "The possible occurrence of ''Angolasaurus'' in the Turonian of North and South America".
  2. (2012). "The Geologic Time Scale". Elsevier.
  3. (2009). "Cretaceous paleogeography, paleoclimatology, and amniote biogeography of the low and mid-latitude South Atlantic Ocean". Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France.
  4. (2019). "Biodiversity of Angola".
  5. Adkins, W.S.. (1924). "Geology and mineral resources of McLennan County". University of Texas Bulletin.
  6. Lingham-Soliar, T.. (1994). "The mosasaur ''"Angolasaurus" bocagei'' (Reptilia: Mosasauridae) from the Turonian of Angola re-interpreted as the earliest member of the genus ''Platecarpus''". Paläontologische Zeitschrift.
  7. Jacobs. (2006). "THE OCCURRENCE AND GEOLOGICAL SETTING OF CRETACEOUS DINOSAURS, MOSASAURS, PLESIOSAURS, AND TURTLES FROM ANGOLA". Paleont. Soc. Korea.
  8. Lingham-Soliar, Theagarten (1991). "Mosasaurs from the upper Cretaceous of Niger". ''Palaeontology''. 34: 653–670.
  9. Moody, R. T. J and Suttcliffe, P. T. C. (1991). The Cretaceous deposits of the Iullemmeden Basin of Niger, central West Africa. ''Cretaceous Research'' 12:137-157
  10. (2011). "Two new plioplatecarpine (Squamata, Mosasauridae) genera from the Upper Cretaceous of North America, and a global phylogenetic analysis of plioplatecarpines". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
  11. (2007). "Abstract Booklet of the Second Mosasaur Meeting".
  12. (2008). "The Cenomanian-Turonian (late Cretaceous) radiation of marine squamates (Reptilia): the role of the Mediterranean Tethys". Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France.
  13. Russell, Dale. A.. (6 November 1967). "Systematics and Morphology of American Mosasaurs".
  14. (2011-11-16). "Three-Dimensionally Preserved Integument Reveals Hydrodynamic Adaptations in the Extinct Marine Lizard Ectenosaurus (Reptilia, Mosasauridae)". PLOS ONE.
  15. Strganac. (2015). "Stable oxygen isotope chemostratigraphy and paleotemperature regime of mosasaurs at Bentiaba, Angola". Netherlands Journal of Geosciences.
  16. "Fossilworks: Angolasaurus".
  17. "Fossilworks: Gateway to the Paleobiology Database".

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russellosaurinsmaastrichtian-genus-extinctionsmosasaurs-of-africamosasaurs-of-north-americafossils-of-angolacretaceous-nigerfossils-of-nigerfossil-taxa-described-in-1964taxa-named-by-miguel-telles-antunesmosasaurs-of-south-americaturonian-genus-first-appearancesconiacian-generasantonian-generacampanian-genera