Kronosaurus
Kronosaurus queenslandicus
Kronosaurus is one of the best-known pliosaurs; its over-long old reconstruction shows how science corrects itself.
Image: Stephen F. Poropat, Phil R. Bell, Lachlan J. Hart, Steven W. Salisbury, & Benjamin P. Kear · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
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Sites on today's globe · 1 marker
Characteristics
- Scientific name
- Kronosaurus queenslandicus
- Period
- Early Cretaceous (Aptian–Albian)
- Lived
- 120–100 Ma (120 million years ago)
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Habitat
- Open sea
- Length (estimate)
- 10 m
- Discovered/described
- 1924 · Albert Heber Longman (description)
Description
Kronosaurus was a short-necked pliosaur with an enormous skull and conical teeth, one of the largest marine predators of its time. Length estimates vary widely: a famous museum reconstruction assumed more than 12 metres, while newer research points to about 9 to 11 metres. Its first remains were initially thought to belong to an ichthyosaur.
Habitat
The inland sea that covered large parts of Australia during the Cretaceous.
Fossil sites
Richmond, Queensland
Cultural profile: Australia →
Contemporaries in the database
Sources: Kronosaurus