Kronosaurus
Pliosaur genus from the Early Cretaceous period / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Kronosaurus (/ˌkrɒnoʊˈsɔːrəs/ KRON-oh-SOR-əs) is an extinct genus of large short-necked pliosaur Aptian to Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous in what is now Australia. The first known specimen was received in 1899 and consists of a partially preserved mandibular symphysis, which was first thought to come from an ichthyosaur according to Charles De Vis. However, it was 1924 that Albert Heber Longman formally described this specimen as the holotype of an imposing pliosaurid, to which he gave the scientific name K. queenslandicus, which is still the only recognized species nowadays. The genus name, meaning "lizard of Kronos", refers to its large size and possible ferocity reminiscent of the Titan of the Greek mythology, while the species name alludes to Queensland, the Australian state of its discovery. In the early 1930s, the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology sent an organized expedition to Australia that recovered two specimens historically attributed to the taxon, including a partial skeleton that is now massively restored in plaster. Several attributed fossils were subsequently discovered, including two large, more or less complete skeletons proposed as potential neotypes. Two additional species were proposed, but these are now seen as invalid or belonging to another genus.
Kronosaurus | |
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QM F18827, the skull of one of the proposed neotype specimens of K. queenslandicus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
Order: | †Plesiosauria |
Family: | †Pliosauridae |
Subfamily: | †Brachaucheninae |
Genus: | †Kronosaurus Longman, 1924 |
Type species | |
†Kronosaurus queenslandicus | |
Synonyms | |
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Kronosaurus is one of the largest known pliosaurs identified to date. Initial estimates set its maximum size at around 13 m (43 ft) long based on the Harvard skeleton. However, the latter having been reconstructed with an exaggerated number of vertebrae, estimates published from the early 2000s reduce the size of the animal from 9 m (30 ft) to more than 10 m (33 ft) long. The largest identified skulls of Kronosaurus dwarf those of largest known theropod dinosaurs in size.
Based on its stratigraphic distribution in the fossil record, Kronosaurus inhabited the Eromanga Sea, an ancient inland sea that covered parts of central and eastern Australia during the Early Cretaceous and reached rather cold temperatures. The animal would likely have been an apex predator in this sea, with fossil evidence showing that the animal preyed on sea turtles and other plesiosaurs. The skull of a juvenile specimen shows that it would have been attacked by an adult, indicating intraspecific aggression or even potential evidence of cannibalism within the genus.