Eremiasaurus

Eremiasaurus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, Maastrichtian, 70.6–66 Ma
Life restoration
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Clade: Mosasauria
Family: Mosasauridae
Tribe: Mosasaurini
Genus: Eremiasaurus
Leblanc et al., 2012
Type species
Eremiasaurus heterodontus
Leblanc et al., 2012

Eremiasaurus ("desert lizard") is a genus of mosasaurs, an extinct group of marine reptiles. It lived during the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous in what is now North Africa. Only one species is known, E. heterodontus, described in 2012 from two remarkably complete fossil specimens discovered in the Ouled Abdoun Basin, Morocco. This site is known to have delivered a significant number of other related mosasaurs.

Eremiasaurus is a medium-sized representative for mosasaurs, estimated to be around 5 metres (16 ft) long based on observations made on the syntype specimens. The skull of Eremiasaurus is robustly built and is characterized by its highly differentiated heterodonty (hence its specific name). The anatomy of the caudal vertebrae of Eremiasaurus suggests that it would have been a predator capable of swimming at high speed.

Eremiasaurus lived in the southern margin of the Mediterranean Tethys. This paleo-ocean had a significant diversity of aquatic vertebrates and had a temperate and warm oceanic climate. The fossil record also shows that there would have been niche partitioning between Eremiasaurus and the various other mosasaur species identified within the Ouled Abdoun Basin.