Kaikaifilu
Extinct genus of marine squamate reptiles / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Kaikaifilu is an extinct genus of large mosasaurs that lived during the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) in what is now northern Antarctica. The only species known, K. hervei, was described in 2017 from an incomplete specimen discovered in the López de Bertodano Formation, in Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. The taxon is named in reference to Coi Coi-Vilu, a reptilian ocean deity of the Mapuche cosmology. Early observations of the holotype classify it as a member of the subfamily Tylosaurinae. However, later observations note that several characteristics show that this attribution is problematic.
Kaikaifilu | |
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Illustration of the partial left humerus of the holotype specimen | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Squamata |
Clade: | †Mosasauria |
Family: | †Mosasauridae |
Clade: | †Russellosaurina |
Subfamily: | †Tylosaurinae (?) |
Genus: | †Kaikaifilu Otero et al. 2017 |
Species: | †K. hervei |
Binomial name | |
†Kaikaifilu hervei Otero et al. 2017 | |
Reconstructions of the skull length of the holotype specimen are estimated at 1.1–1.2 m (43–47 in). The maximum size would be approximately 10 m (33 ft) long, making Kaikaifilu the largest mosasaur identified in the Southern Hemisphere, as well as one of the largest tylosaurines known to date, if its attribution to this group remains valid. One of the distinguishing characteristics of this taxon is that it has well-marked heterodont dentition, a trait not found in other tylosaurines.
The fossil record shows that the animal lived in cold waters where temperatures may have dropped below freezing. The López de Bertodano Formation, from which Kaikaifilu is known, shows the presence of other aquatic vertebrates, including fish, plesiosaurs and also other mosasaurs. Dating to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, Kaikaifilu is one of the last known mosasaurs.