{{short description|Extinct marine lizards of the Late Cretaceous}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = Mosasauroidea | taxon = Mosasauroidea | authority = Camp, 1923 | fossil_range = Late Cretaceous, {{Fossil range|98|66}}<ref name=Jacobsetal2005>{{cite journal|author1=Jacobs, L.L.|author2=Ferguson, K.|author3=Polcyn, M.J.|author4=Rennison, C.|title=Cretaceous δ13C stratigraphy and the age of dolichosaurs and early mosasaurs|year=2005|journal=Netherlands Journal of Geosciences|volume=84|issue=3|pages=257-268|doi=10.1017/S0016774600021041|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/BDA959CA16AD754C00BC7F119F815301/S0016774600021041a.pdf/cretaceous-d13c-stratigraphy-and-the-age-of-dolichosaurs-and-early-mosasaurs.pdf}}</ref><ref name=Mekarski2017>{{cite thesis|author=Mekarski, M.M.|title=The Origin and Evolution of Aquatic Adaptations in Cretaceous Squamates|year=2017|type=PhD|publisher=University of Alberta|url=https://era.library.ualberta.ca/items/41d1bd61-b71d-464f-a292-01c3018ea775|doi=10.7939/R3KK94S2B|doi-access=free}}</ref> | image = Aigialosaurus.jpg | image_caption = Fossil of ''Aigialosaurus'', an aigialosaurid | image2 = Platecarpus-tympaniticus.png | image2_caption = Skeleton of ''Platecarpus'', a mosasaurid | subdivision_ranks = Subgroups | subdivision = *{{extinct}}''Asprosaurus''?<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Woolley |first1=C. Henrik |last2=Sertich |first2=Joseph J. W. |last3=Melstrom |first3=Keegan M. |last4=Irmis |first4=Randall B. |last5=Smith |first5=Nathan D. |date=2025-06-18 |title=New monstersaur specimens from the Kaiparowits Formation of Utah reveal unexpected richness of large-bodied lizards in Late Cretaceous North America |url= |journal=Royal Society Open Science |language=en |volume=12 |issue=6 |doi=10.1098/rsos.250435 |issn=2054-5703 |doi-access=free}}</ref> *{{extinct}}''Carsosaurus'' *{{extinct}}''Haasiasaurus'' *{{extinct}}''Komensaurus'' *{{extinct}}''Mesoleptos'' *{{extinct}}''Portunatasaurus'' *{{extinct}}''Vallecillosaurus'' *{{extinct}}Aigialosauridae *{{extinct}}Mosasauridae }}
'''Mosasauroidea''' is a superfamily of extinct marine reptiles that existed during the Late Cretaceous. Basal members of this group consist of small semiaquatic forms with terrestrial limbs ("plesiopedal"), while later members include larger fully aquatic paddle-limbed ("hydropedal") forms commonly known as mosasaurs.<ref name=Augustaetal2022>{{cite book|author1=Augusta, B.G.|author2=Zaher, H.|author3=Polcyn, M.J.|author4=Fiorillo, A.R.|author5=Jacobs, L.L.|chapter=A Review of Non-Mosasaurid (Dolichosaur and Aigialosaur) Mosasaurians and Their Relationships to Snakes|title=The Origin and Early Evolutionary History of Snakes|year=2022|publisher=Cambridge University Press|editor1=Gower, D.J.|editor2=Zaher, H.|pages=157-179|doi=10.1017/9781108938891|isbn=978-1-108-93889-1}}</ref> These were traditionally grouped within their own separate families, the '''Aigialosauridae''' and '''Mosasauridae''' respectively. However, phylogenetic studies have since found plesiopedal mosasauroids to be a non-monophyletic group, with some taxa nestled within the mosasaurids.<ref name=Komensaurus>{{cite journal|author1=Caldwell, M.W.|author2=Palci, A.|year=2007|title=A new basal mosasauroid from the Cenomanian (U. Cretaceous) of Slovenia with a review of mosasauroid phylogeny and evolution|journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology|volume=27|issue=4|pages=863-880|doi=10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[863:ANBMFT]2.0.CO;2}}</ref><ref name=Caldwell2012>{{cite journal|author=Caldwell, M.W.|title=A challenge to categories: "What, if anything, is a mosasaur?"|year=2012|journal=Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France|volume=183|issue=1|pages=17–34|doi=10.2113/gssgfbull.183.1.7}}</ref> Daniel Madzia and Andrea Cau in 2017 defined '''Mosasauroidea''' as "the most inclusive clade containing ''Mosasaurus hoffmannii'' and ''Aigialosaurus dalmaticus'', but not ''Dolichosaurus longicollis'', ''Adriosaurus suessi'', or ''Pontosaurus lesinensis''".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Madzia|first1=Daniel|last2=Cau|first2=Andrea|date=2017-09-15|title=Inferring 'weak spots' in phylogenetic trees: application to mosasauroid nomenclature|journal=PeerJ|language=en|volume=5|article-number=e3782|doi=10.7717/peerj.3782|pmid=28929018|pmc=5602675|issn=2167-8359|doi-access=free}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1015249}}
Category:Mosasauroidea Category:Cenomanian first appearances Category:Maastrichtian extinctions Category:Taxa named by Charles Lewis Camp