Muiscasaurus
Name:
Muiscasaurus
(Muisca lizard).
Phonetic: Mu-es-ca-sor-us.
Named By: E. E. Maxwell, D. Dick, S.
Padilla & M. L. Parra - 2015.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Ichthyosauria, Ophthalmosauridae.
Species: M. catheti (type).
Diet: Carnivore/Piscivore.
Size: Preserved holotype skull length 45
centimetres. Reconstructed skull length anything between 48 and
65 centimetres long. Total body size uncertain but estimated to
have been about 3 meters long for the juvenile holotype, with
adults potentially growing up to 5 meters in length.
Known locations: Colombia - Paja Formation.
Time period: Barremian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial skull with some
partial post cranial remains thought to be from a juvenile.
Muiscasaurus is a genus of opthalmosaurid ichthyosaur that lived during the early Cretaceous. Opthalmosaurid ichthyosaurs like Muiscasaurus are thought to have been specialists that hunted in deep water where there was very little light.
Further reading
- A new ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur from the Early Cretaceous of
Colombia. - Papers in Palaeontology. - E. E. Maxwell, D.
Dick, S. Padilla & M. L. Parra - 2015.
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