''Moanasaurus'' (From
Māori ''moana'' "sea" and Greek ''sauros'' "lizard"; meaning "Sea Lizard") was a genus of
mosasaur from the
Late Cretaceous period. Its fossil remains have been discovered in the
North Island
The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...
of
New Zealand. ''Moanasaurus'' was a very large mosasaurine known originally from a disarticulated skull, vertebrae, ribs and flipper bones. The skull measures in length, which shows that ''Moanasaurus'' was one of the largest in the subfamily of
Mosasaurinae. Researchers argue that some Antarctic ''
Mosasaurus'' remains (including a "large, fragmentaery skull") may be attributed to this genus.
Gregory S. Paul estimated its maximum adult size at in length and in body mass.
See also
*
List of dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles of New Zealand
References
External links
Oceans of Kansas
Mosasaurines
Mosasaurs of Oceania
Fossils of New Zealand
Fossil taxa described in 1980
Taxa named by Joan Wiffen
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Extinct animals of New Zealand