Kourisodon

Kourisodon
Temporal range: Late Santonian - Late Maastrichtian 84–66 Ma
Restored skull
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Clade: Mosasauria
Family: Mosasauridae
Subfamily: Mosasaurinae
Genus: Kourisodon
Nicholls and Meckert, 2002
Species

K. puntledgensis Nicholls and Meckert, 2002 (type)

Restored skeleton
Life reconstruction

Kourisodon (from the Greek κουρίς kourís + ὀδών odon, "razor tooth") is an extinct genus of mosasaur. Fossils have been found from Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada,[1] as well as from the Izumi Group of Japan.[2] These finds date back to the late Santonian stage and the late Campanian to the late Maastrichtian, respectively, of the Late Cretaceous. Kourisodon was originally described as a member of the "Leiodontini",[1] more recently as a "Clidastine".[3]

  1. ^ a b Nicholls, E. L. and Meckert, D. (2002). Marine reptiles from the Nanaimo Group (Upper Cretaceous) of Vancouver Island. Canadian Journal of Earth Science 39(11):1591-1603.
  2. ^ Tanimoto, M. (2005). "Mosasaur remains from the Upper Cretaceous Izumi Group of Southwest Japan". Netherlands Journal of Geosciences. 84 (3): 373–378. doi:10.1017/s0016774600021156.
  3. ^ Caldwell, Michael; Konishi, Takuya (2007). "Taxonomic re-assignment of the first-known mosasaur specimen from Japan, and a discussion of circum-pacific mosasaur paleobiogeography". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 27 (2): 517–520. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[517:trotfm]2.0.co;2.