Moanasaurus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of lizards}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = Late Cretaceous, {{fossil_range|77|66}}

| image = Moanasaurus2.png

| image_caption = Life restoration

| taxon = Moanasaurus

| authority = Wiffen, 1980

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

• Moanasaurus mangahouangae (type)
  Wiffen, 1980

| synonyms =

• Rikisaurus tehoensis
  Wiffen, 1990
• Mosasaurus flemingi?
  Wiffen, 1990

}}

Moanasaurus (From Māori moana "sea" and Greek sauros "lizard"; meaning "Sea Lizard") was a genus of mosasaur from the Late Cretaceous period. Its fossil remains have been discovered in the North Island of New Zealand. Moanasaurus was a very large mosasaurine known originally from holotype CD43, a disarticulated skull, vertebrae, ribs and flipper bones. The skull measures {{cvt|78|cm|in}} in length, which shows that Moanasaurus was one of the largest in the subfamily of Mosasaurinae.{{cite journal|first=J.|last=Wiffen|authorlink=Joan Wiffen|year=1980|title=Moanasaurus, a new genus of marine reptile (Family Mosasauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous of North Island, New Zealand|journal=New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics|volume=23|issue = 4|pages=507–528|doi=10.1080/00288306.1980.10424122|doi-access=free}} Researchers argue that some Antarctic Mosasaurus remains (including a "large, fragmentary skull") may be attributed to this genus.{{cite journal|author=Martin, J.E.|title=Biostratigraphy of the Mosasauridae (Reptilia) from the Cretaceous of Antarctica|journal=Geological Society, London, Special Publications|volume=258|issue=1|pages=101–108|year=2007|doi=10.1144/GSL.SP.2006.258.01.07|s2cid=128604544 }}

Two additional species have been named, "Moanasaurus hobetsuensis" (originally named Mosasaurus hobetsuensis) and "Moanasaurus longirostris", but these are nomina nuda because they were named in a PhD thesis. The same thesis argued that Mosasaurus flemingi is a junior synonym of Moanasaurus mangahouangae.{{cite thesis|author=Hallie P. Street|year=2016|title=A re-assessment of the genus Mosasaurus (Squamata: Mosasauridae)|type=PhD|publisher=University of Alberta|url=https://era.library.ualberta.ca/items/53bb82a0-7a66-4afb-a26d-b611b5f86136/view/f59a5ee9-9c57-4409-9988-5c8958216f80/Street_Hallie_P_201604_PhD.pdf|doi=10.7939/R31N7XZ1K|s2cid=92749266|doi-access=free}}