Tuarangisaurus
Name:
Tuarangisaurus
(Ancient lizard).
Phonetic: Tu-ar-an-ge-sore-us.
Named By: Wiffen & Moisley - 1986.
Classification: Reptilia, Sauropterygia,
Plesiosauria, Elasmosauridae.
Species: T. keyesi (type).
Diet: Piscivore/Carnivore.
Size: Estimated at 8 meters long.
Known locations: New Zealand - Tahora Formation.
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Based upon an almost complete
skull, mandible (lower jaw), and cervical (neck) vertebra.
Partial post cranial remains have been attributed to the genus.
Named
from a combination of the Maori word for 'ancient' and the ancient
Greek for 'lizard', Tuarangisaurus was the
second plesiosaur
discovered in New Zealand. As an elasmosaurid Tuarangisaurus
would
have relied upon a combination of its long neck and long sharp teeth to
seize prey items such as fish and squid.
For
a time Tuarangisaurus shared its waters with the
much larger
elasmosaurid plesiosaur Mauisaurus.
Further reading
- Late Cretaceous reptiles (families Elasmosauridae and Pliosauridae)
from the Mangahouanga Stream, North Island, New Zealand. - New Zealand
Journal of Geology and Geophysics 29:205-252. - J. Wiffen & W.
L. Moisley - 1986.
- Tuarangisaurus australis sp. nov. (Plesiosauria:
Elasmosauridae) from
the Lower Cretaceous of northeastern Queensland, with additional notes
on the phylogeny of the Elasmosauridae. - Memoirs of the Queensland
Museum. 50: 2, p 425-440 ISSN 0079-8835. - S. Seachs - 2005.
- Reappraisal of Tuarangisaurus? cabazai (Elasmosauridae, Plesiosauria)
from the Upper Maastrichtian of northern Patagonia, Argentina. -
Cretaceous Research. 47: 39–47. - J. P. O’Gorman, Z. Gasparini
& L. Salgado - 2014.
- Redescription of Tuarangisaurus keyesi
(Sauropterygia;
Elasmosauridae), a key species from the uppermost Cretaceous of the
Weddellian Province: Internal skull anatomy and phylogenetic position.
- Cretaceous Research. 71: 118–136. - J. P. O’Gorman, R. A. Otero, N.
Hiller, J. Simes & M. Terezow - 2016.
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