Welcome to Aigialosaurus
Name Definition
Seashore lizard
Name Given By
Kramberger in 1892
Location
Hvar in Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia
Classification
Reptilia, Squamata, Mosasauroidea, Aigialosauridae
Size
around 1.1 meters (3.6 ft) long
Temporal Range
Cenomanian - Turonian of the late Cretaceous, 99.7 - 94.3 million years ago
Ecological niche
semi aquatic predator
Species/Sub Species
A. dalmaticus (type), ?A. bucchichi
Diet
Aigialosaurus was an intermediate form, so it would have most likely hunted small land animals as well as aquatic animals like fish
Introduction
Aigialosaurus is a genus of primitive mosasauroid lizards that lived in Croatia during the Late Cretaceous. It is most well known for being the oldest and most primitive member of the mosasaur lineage, a family that would eventually bring some of the fiercest and largest aquatic predators the Earth has ever seen, despite living during the late Cretaceous, though most mosasaurs lived after 90 million years ago. This would mean that Aigialosaurus was also a squamate, the order Squamata being the biggest order of reptiles and consists of lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians, better known as worm lizards. In 2009, another primitive mosasauroid and close relative, Opetiosaurus, was suggested to have been a second species of Aigialosaurus, Aigialosaurus bucchichi, though this claim has not yet been supported by any recent studies.