Monquirasaurus
Name:
Monquirasaurus
(Monquir� lizard).
Phonetic: Mon-kwy-rah-sor-us.
Named By: Leslie F.No� &
MarcelaG�mez-P�rez - 2021.
Synonyms: Kronosaurus boyacensis..
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria, Pliosauridae.
Species: M. boyacensis
(type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Skull 2.45 meters long. Total skeleton
incomplete but has a preserved length to back of the pelvis of just
over 7 meters. Total body length uncertain as this relies upon
comparison to other genera to fill in missing gaps such as the tail.
Full body length at least 8 meters long. refer to main text for
further elaboration.
Known locations: Colombia - Paja Formation.
Time period: Early Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial skull, lower jaw,
and most of the post cranial skeleton.
Originally
described as a species of Kronosaurus,
K. boyacensis,
was
re-described as a distinct genus Monquirasaurus,
in 2021.
Monquirasaurus was a large pliosaur
that swam around in the waters
around Central America during the early Cretaceous. Monquirasaurus
would have easily been among the larger oceanic predators of this time
and easily capable of taking down other marine reptiles from turtles to
plesiosaurs
and perhaps even other pliosaurs.
Like
many other large pliosaurs it is hard to be absolute about the exact
size of Monquirasaurus. The skull is
reconstructed at two hundred and
forty-five centimetres long, and one hundred and twenty centimetres
wide at widest span (for holotype individual). Lower jaw has a
length of two hundred and sixty-five centimetres. The body proportion
however is where things get a little murky for details while the post
cranial skeleton is largely complete, it is missing the tail, and
other bones may have been distorted and/or moved slightly. The total
preserved length (not including missing portions) of the body and
skull is a little over seven meters.
The
real problem in estimating size is the lack of the tail in the holotype
individual. If Monquirasaurus was similar to
brauchauchenine pliosaur
proportions then a skeletal length of eight meters would be a solid
estimate for the skeleton. However this depends entirely upon
proportional similarity which cannot be known with certainty at the
time of discovery. If Monquirasaurus was more like
early pliosaur
forms the tail may have been a little longer. What compounds the
problem further however is the presence of external soft tissues around
the tail which may have increased length. Also, the holotype
individual of Monquirasaurus is termed a young
adult. Therefore this
individual would have at least been almost fully grown, but perhaps
not completely so. All these variables working together and it is
perhaps possible to speculate that Monquirasaurus
might have surpassed
eight meters, perhaps reaching nine or even ten meters total body
length. But that is speculation. Pliosaur morphology underwent
major revisions in the first couple of decades of the twenty-first
century and the science is still far from exact.
Further reading
- Ein gro�w�chsiger Pliosauride (Reptilia: Plesiosauria) aus
der Unterkreide (oberes Aptium) von Kolumbien. - Courier
Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg 145:1-25. - O. Hampe - 1992.
- Giant pliosaurids (Sauropterygia; Plesiosauria) from the
Lower Cretaceous peri-Gondwanan seas of Colombia and Australia. -
Cretaceous Research. 132 - Leslie F.No� &
MarcelaG�mez-P�rez - 2021.
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