A new species of Yaguarasaurus (Mosasauridae: Plioplatecarpinae) from the Agua Nueva Formation (Upper Turonian – ?Lower Coniacian) of Nuevo Leon, Mexico

Héctor E. Rivera-Sylva; Nicholas R. Longrich; José M. Padilla-Gutierrez; José Rubén Guzmán-Gutiérrez; Víctor M. Escalante-Hernández; José G. González-Ávila

doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2023.104694

A new species of Yaguarasaurus (Mosasauridae: Plioplatecarpinae) from the Agua Nueva Formation (Upper Turonian – ?Lower Coniacian) of Nuevo Leon, Mexico

Héctor E. Rivera-Sylva, Nicholas R. Longrich, José M. Padilla-Gutierrez, José Rubén Guzmán-Gutiérrez, Víctor M. Escalante-Hernández, José G. González-Ávila

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

The Mosasauridae underwent a major radiation early in the Late Cretaceous, with the subfamilies Plioplatecarpini and Tylosaurini appearing in the Turonian. Here we report an almost complete mosasaur skull assigned to the plioplatecarpine genus Yaguarasaurus. The specimen was discovered southwest of Vallecillo in the northeastern Mexico state of Nuevo Leon, about 80 km north of Monterrey, in a laminated limestone layer of the upper member of the Agua Nueva Formation (Upper Turonian - ?Lower Coniacian). The specimen is referred to as a new species, Y. regiomontanus. This is the first report of Yaguarasaurus from Mexico and the most complete of the Americas. At roughly 5 m in length, it is one of the earliest large mosasaurids. Along with Yaguarasaurus columbianus, Russellosaurus coheni, and an unnamed plioplatecarpine from Texas, it documents the rapid diversification and expansion of plioplatecarpines in the marine realm in the Turonian.

Original language	English
Article number	104694
Journal	Journal of South American Earth Sciences
Volume	133
Early online date	16 Nov 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2023.104694
Publication status	Published - 31 Jan 2024

Funding

We thank Lic. Margarito Gonzalez for donating the specimen to the MUDE and Julio Robledo for their useful skill cleaning the material. We also thank Lucia M. Alfaro Ortíz (LLF) for taking the photographs. We would like to thank Jorge Angel Ortiz Mendieta (Museo de Historia Natural Amecameca) for the map and the illustration of the reconstructed skull. We also thank Ruben Molina for providing the allometric total length scaling. We would also like to express our gratitude to Mike Polcyn for reviewing a previous draft of the manuscript and productive discussions. Additionally, we extend our thanks to Jahn Hornung and María Eurídice Páramo-Fonseca for their valuable comments during the review of this paper.

Keywords

Agua Nueva formation
Late cretaceous
Mexico
Mosasauridae
Nuevo leon
Plioplatecarpinae
Turonian

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geology
Earth-Surface Processes

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.jsames.2023.104694

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Rivera-Sylva, H. E., Longrich, N. R., Padilla-Gutierrez, J. M., Guzmán-Gutiérrez, J. R., Escalante-Hernández, V. M., & González-Ávila, J. G. (2024). A new species of Yaguarasaurus (Mosasauridae: Plioplatecarpinae) from the Agua Nueva Formation (Upper Turonian – ?Lower Coniacian) of Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 133, Article 104694. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2023.104694

A new species of Yaguarasaurus (Mosasauridae: Plioplatecarpinae) from the Agua Nueva Formation (Upper Turonian – ?Lower Coniacian) of Nuevo Leon, Mexico. / Rivera-Sylva, Héctor E.; Longrich, Nicholas R.; Padilla-Gutierrez, José M. et al.
In: Journal of South American Earth Sciences, Vol. 133, 104694, 31.01.2024.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Rivera-Sylva, HE, Longrich, NR, Padilla-Gutierrez, JM, Guzmán-Gutiérrez, JR, Escalante-Hernández, VM & González-Ávila, JG 2024, 'A new species of Yaguarasaurus (Mosasauridae: Plioplatecarpinae) from the Agua Nueva Formation (Upper Turonian – ?Lower Coniacian) of Nuevo Leon, Mexico', Journal of South American Earth Sciences, vol. 133, 104694. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2023.104694

Rivera-Sylva HE, Longrich NR, Padilla-Gutierrez JM, Guzmán-Gutiérrez JR, Escalante-Hernández VM, González-Ávila JG. A new species of Yaguarasaurus (Mosasauridae: Plioplatecarpinae) from the Agua Nueva Formation (Upper Turonian – ?Lower Coniacian) of Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 2024 Jan 31;133:104694. Epub 2023 Nov 16. doi: 10.1016/j.jsames.2023.104694

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abstract = "The Mosasauridae underwent a major radiation early in the Late Cretaceous, with the subfamilies Plioplatecarpini and Tylosaurini appearing in the Turonian. Here we report an almost complete mosasaur skull assigned to the plioplatecarpine genus Yaguarasaurus. The specimen was discovered southwest of Vallecillo in the northeastern Mexico state of Nuevo Leon, about 80 km north of Monterrey, in a laminated limestone layer of the upper member of the Agua Nueva Formation (Upper Turonian - ?Lower Coniacian). The specimen is referred to as a new species, Y. regiomontanus. This is the first report of Yaguarasaurus from Mexico and the most complete of the Americas. At roughly 5 m in length, it is one of the earliest large mosasaurids. Along with Yaguarasaurus columbianus, Russellosaurus coheni, and an unnamed plioplatecarpine from Texas, it documents the rapid diversification and expansion of plioplatecarpines in the marine realm in the Turonian.",

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A new species of Yaguarasaurus (Mosasauridae: Plioplatecarpinae) from the Agua Nueva Formation (Upper Turonian – ?Lower Coniacian) of Nuevo Leon, Mexico

Abstract

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UN SDGs

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