Primer hallazgo de Mosasauridae (Squamata) en el Maastrichtiense (Cretacico final) de Alicante (Comunidad de Valencia, Levante Español)

8 p.[EN] Although the mosasaurid genus Prognathodon is known worldwide during the latest Cretaceous (Cam-panian-Maastrichtian), we report here its first occurrence in the Eastern area of the Iberian Peninsula. It was previously known from coeval levels of the Basque Country. The specimen from Castalla (Alicante) corresponds to a pterygoid tooth. Though it cannot be precisely determined at the specific level, the tooth belongs to a Prognathodon species with ‘slender’ teeth such as P. compressidens, P. sectorius and P. mosasauroides , all known in the Campanian-Maastrichtian of Europe, or P. kianda from the Maastrichtian of Angola.[ES] Aunque el genero de mosasaurio Prognathodon esta conocido mundialmente durante el Cretácico final (Campaniense-Maastrichtiense), damos a conocer su primera occurencia en el Levante Español. Previamente ya se conocía en niveles contemporáneos del País Vasco. El especimen de Castalla corresponde a un diente del pterigoides. Aunque no se puede identificar a nivel especifico, el diente pertenece a una especie de Prognathodon con dientes 'delgados' como P. compressidens, P. sectorius y P. mosasauroides, del Campaniense-Maastrichtiense de Europa, o P. kianda del Maastrichtiense de Angola.The present paper is supported by the Research Group VIGROB-167 of the University of Alicante (J.F.B.C.). The tooth has been donated by one of the authors (M.G.A.) for its study. We thank Anne Schulp (Maastricht, The Netherlands) and Mike Polcyn (Dallas, Texas, USA) for their constructive reviews that permitted to improve the manuscript