What is "yaguarasaurus"

Yaguarasaurus is an extinct genus of mosasauroid from the Late Cretaceous ( Turonian) period of Colombia, South America. The remains discovered (an articulated skull, some vertebrae and ribs) were defined as a new genus and species of mosasaurid, Yaguarasaurus columbianus, by the Colombian paleontologist María Páramo, former director of the Museo de Geología José Royo y Gómez of INGEOMINAS in Bogota. The remains were found in a limestone bench (Upper Turonian) of the Villeta Formation near Yaguará, in the site called Cueva Rica ( Huila). Its name means "Yaguará lizard of Colombia". The first fossils remains of this animal suggested a cranial length of 47 cm and a total length of 5 meters; an additional skull that measures 87 cm long implies a larger size.

This reptile is a member of the family of marine lizards Mosasauridae characteristic of Middle and Upper Cretaceous, with global distribution, but in South America known only through isolated remains (Price, 1957, Pierce and Welles, 1959 ; Bonaparte, 1978; Ameghino, 1918). This mosasaur discovered in Yaguará, is the most complete material known in South America.