Pluridens
| Pluridens Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
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|---|---|
| Skull of Pluridens serpentis | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Clade: | †Mosasauria |
| Family: | †Mosasauridae |
| Tribe: | †Pluridensini |
| Genus: | †Pluridens Lingham-Soliar, 1998 |
| Species | |
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Pluridens ("many teeth") is an extinct genus of marine lizard belonging to the Mosasauridae. Pluridens is placed in the subfamily Halisaurinae with the genera Phosphorosaurus, Eonatator and Halisaurus. Compared to related halisaurines, Pluridens had longer jaws with more teeth, and smaller eyes. It also grew large size, measuring 5–6 m (16–20 ft) long and perhaps over 9 m (30 ft) in some individuals. The jaws in some specimens are robust, and sometimes show injuries suggestive of combat. The jaws may have been used for fighting over mates or territories.
Pluridens lived in the shallow seas of West Africa during the late Campanian-Maastrichtian. Three species of are known, P. walkeri, P. calabaria, and P. serpentis. P. walkeri is known from the Maastrichtian of southwest Niger, whereas P. calabaria is found in slightly older (late Campanian) deposits in Nigeria. P. serpentis was found in Maastrichtian deposits in Morocco. Pluridens was briefly synonymized with Halisaurus by Lindgren and Siverson (2005), but subsequent studies rejected the synonymy.