Shonisaurus
Shonisaurus popularis
Shonisaurus was one of the largest known Triassic marine reptiles.
Image: ★Kumiko★ from Tokyo, Japan · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
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Characteristics
- Scientific name
- Shonisaurus popularis
- Period
- Late Triassic (Carnian)
- Lived
- 228–208 Ma (228 million years ago)
- Diet
- Piscivore
- Habitat
- Open sea
- Length (estimate)
- 15 m
- Mass (estimate)
- 30,000 kg
Description
Shonisaurus was a very large ichthyosaur with a barrel-shaped body, four paddle-like limbs and a long snout. Most specimens lack a complete tail, making details of propulsion uncertain. It lived in the sea and probably ate fish and cephalopods; tooth shapes differ among species. Fossil aggregations may indicate repeated use of the same environment, but their cause is not clear-cut.
Habitat
Open seas in the western part of Pangaea.
Fossil sites
Berlin–Ichthyosaur State Park, Nevada
Luning Formation
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Contemporaries in the database
Sources: Shonisaurus