Gavialimimus

Gavialimimus is an extinct genus of plioplatecarpine mosasaur from the Maastrichtian of Morocco and possibly Angola.

== Discovery and naming == In 2020, Strong and colleagues named a new genus of plioplatecarpine mosasaur Gavialimimus based on the specimen MHNM.KHG.1231, an articulated skull and associated fragmentary postcrania found in the Ouled Abdoun Basin, which was designated as the holotype. The etymology of this genus means "gharial mimic" (Gavial = "gharial" + Greek mimus = "mimic"), referring to morphological convergence between Gavialimimus and the extant gharial (Gavialis gangeticus). The specific name almaghribensis references al-Maghrib, the type locality of Gavialimimus. In 2022, Longrich and colleagues reported various marine vertebrate remains with signs of acid damage including a rostrum assigned to G. almaghribensis (MHNM.KHG.519) found in close vicinity to Thalassotitan, suggesting that these fossils are digested by the stomach acid of a large mosasaur like Thalassotitan.