Nakonanectes
Name:
Nakonanectes
(Nakona swimmer).
Phonetic: Nak-o-nek-teez.
Named By: D. J. Serratos, P. Druckenmiller
& R. B. J. Benson - 2017.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria, Elasmosauridae.
Species: N. bradti (type).
Diet: Piscivore.
Size: Estimated between 5.1 and 5.6 meters
in length.
Known locations: USA, Montana - Bearpaw
Formation.
Time period: Campanian/Maastrichtian of the
Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Skull and most of the Post
cranial skeleton.
Nakonanectes
is a genus of elasmosaurid plesiosaur
that would have hunted in the
Western interior seaway during the late Cretaceous period.
Nakonanectes is noted for having short cervical
vertebrae and an
estimated length of only about five and a half meters at most for the
holotype individual. This is small for an elasmosaurid plesiosaur,
as most others of its kind were substantially longer.
Further reading
- A new elasmosaurid (Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria) from the
Bearpaw Shale (Late Cretaceous, Maastrichtian) of Montana
demonstrates multiple evolutionary reductions of neck length within
Elasmosauridae. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
37(2):e1278608. - D. J. Serratos, P. Druckenmiller
& R. B. J. Benson - 2017.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Random favourites
 |
 |
 |