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Alexandronectes

Name means: “Alexander's swimmer, after Alexander McKay who found the fossils”1

Ate: MeatPlesiosaursLate CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Alexandronectes was a long-necked marine reptile that swam in the seas around New Zealand near the end of the Age of Dinosaurs. It was a type of plesiosaur called an elasmosaurid, with a big head and a short neck compared to other elasmosaurids. It used its strong flippers to paddle through the water and hunt for fish and squid.1 2

Fun fact: this sea reptile swam while dinosaurs walked on land. Everyone calls them dinos, but they were a different branch of reptiles.

Lived

84 to 66 million years ago4

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Waipara River, north of Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand3 1

Food

Meat2

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Alexandronectes was a type of plesiosaur called an aristonectine, a group known for having unusually large skulls compared to other elasmosaurids.1

Its skull was smaller than those of other aristonectines like Kaiwhekea and Aristonectes, showing that not all members of this group were giants.1

The fossils of Alexandronectes were collected in 1872 by Alexander McKay, a famous New Zealand fossil hunter, but scientists did not name the animal until 2016.1 3

Its name means 'Alexander's swimmer from Zealandia', referring to the ancient continent that New Zealand is part of.1

Alexandronectes lived about 70 million years ago, during the early Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous.1 3

The only known fossils are two pieces of the back of the skull, which were originally thought to belong to two different animals.1

AI-made picture of Alexandronectes — An AI-made picture of how Alexandronectes might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Alexandronectes

?Was Alexandronectes a dinosaur?

No, it was a plesiosaur, a type of long-necked marine reptile that lived in the oceans, not a dinosaur.3

?How big was Alexandronectes?

Scientists do not know its exact size because only parts of its skull have been found. Its skull was smaller than those of other aristonectines like Kaiwhekea and Aristonectes.3 1

?What did Alexandronectes eat?

It likely ate fish and squid, using its strong flippers to paddle through the water and hunt.3

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Alexandronectes
Named by: Otero et al. 20164
Group: Plesiosaurs
Family / clade: Elasmosauridae4
Classification: Plesiosauria > Elasmosauridae > Sauropterygia4
Age of the rocks: 84 to 66 million years (Campanian / Maastrichtian)4
Rock formations: Conway4
Countries: New Zealand4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: The fossils were found in 1872 by Alexander McKay near the Waipara River in New Zealand. They were stored at the Canterbury Museum for over 140 years before being studied and named Alexandronectes zealandiensis in 2016.1 3
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how big Alexandronectes was, because only a partial skull has been found.1

Where the facts come from

UJVP_A_1054494_O (sedici.unlp.edu.ar)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Alexandronectes (en.wikipedia.org)
Alexandronectes in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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