Editing Mosasaur (section)

{{short description|Extinct marine lizards of the Late Cretaceous}}
{{distinguish|text=[[mesosaur]]s, marine reptiles of the Permian}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name = Mosasaurs
| taxon = Mosasauridae
| authority = [[Paul Gervais|Gervais]], 1853
| fossil_range = [[Late Cretaceous]], {{Fossil range|94|66|earliest=98}}<ref name=PolcynSarabosaurus>{{Cite journal |author1=Polcyn, M.J. |author2=Bardet, N.|author3=Albright III, L.B. |author4=Titus, A.|year=2023 |title=A new lower Turonian mosasaurid from the Western Interior Seaway and the antiquity of the unique basicranial circulation pattern in Plioplatecarpinae |journal=[[Cretaceous Research]] |volume=151 |doi=10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105621 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2023CrRes.15105621P }}</ref>
| image = Platecarpus planifrons Clean.png
| image_upright = 1.2
| image_caption = Mounted skeleton of a [[Russellosaurina|russellosaurine]] (''[[Plesioplatecarpus planifrons]]'')
| subdivision_ranks = Subgroups
| subdivision =
*{{extinct}}[[Halisaurinae]]
*{{extinct}}[[Mosasaurinae]]
*{{extinct}}'''Russellosaurina'''
**{{extinct}}[[Plioplatecarpinae]]
**{{extinct}}[[Tethysaurinae]]
**{{extinct}}[[Tylosaurinae]]
**{{extinct}}[[Yaguarasaurinae]]
}}

'''Mosasaurs''' (from [[Latin]] ''Mosa'' meaning the '[[Meuse]]', and [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] {{lang|grc|σαύρος}} ''{{lang|grc-Latn|sauros}}'' meaning 'lizard') are an extinct group of large aquatic reptiles within the family '''Mosasauridae''' that lived during the Late Cretaceous. Their first [[fossil]] remains were discovered in a limestone quarry at [[Maastricht]] on the Meuse in 1764. They belong to the order [[Squamata]], which includes [[lizard]]s and [[snake]]s.

During the last 20 million years of the Cretaceous period ([[Turonian]]–[[Maastrichtian]] ages), with the extinction of the [[ichthyosaur]]s and [[Pliosauridae|pliosaurs]], mosasaurids became the dominant marine predators. They themselves became extinct as a result of the [[Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event|K-Pg event]] at the end of the Cretaceous period, about 66 million years ago.