Moanasaurus

Moanasaurus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 77 Ma
↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Reptilia
Order:Squamata
Superfamily:†Mosasauroidea
Family:†Mosasauridae
Tribe:†Mosasaurini
Genus:†Moanasaurus
Wiffen, 1980
Species
  • M. 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 a disarticulated skull, vertebrae, ribs and flipper bones. It reached 12 m in length and the skull is 78 cm, which shows that Moanasaurus was one of the largest in the family of Mosasaurinae.[1]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Wiffen, J. (1980). "Moanasaurus, a new genus of marine reptile (Family Mosasauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous of North Island, New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 23: 507–528. doi:10.1080/00288306.1980.10424122.


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