Dino card No. 0245 of 2,027

Barracudasauroides

Say it: bar-uh-KOO-duh-SORE-oyd-eez

Name means: “barracuda-like”1

Ate: MeatIchthyosaursMiddle TriassicNot technically a dinosaur

Barracudasauroides was a small, fast-swimming marine reptile that lived in the sea during the Middle Triassic, about 247 to 241 million years ago. It was not a dinosaur, but a type of ichthyosaur, with a long snout and sharp teeth for catching fish.5 1

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

Lived

247 to 241 million years ago5

Middle Triassic

Fossils found in

Fossils have been found in Guizhou Province, China, in the Guanling Formation.1

Food

Meat5

Length

1 m3

estimate

Weight

79.4 kg4

estimate from museum specimen

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 2.5 big dogs

as long as 2 house cats nose to tailas long as 6 bananas end to endas heavy as 16 watermelons

How big was Barracudasauroides compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

Barracudasauroides had a skull less than 250 millimetres long, which is about the length of a pencil.2

It had 15 or fewer teeth in the front of its upper jaw, and those teeth were long, cone-shaped, and pointed.2

Its front teeth were weaker than its back teeth, which were stronger and more blunt.2

The bones in its skull behind the eye were arranged in a very old-fashioned way, more primitive than other mixosaurids.2

Its radius bone, in the front flipper, had two notches on the front edge, which is a special feature.2

It lived in the sea during the Anisian stage of the Middle Triassic, about 247 to 241 million years ago.5 1

AI-made picture of Barracudasauroides — An AI-made picture of how Barracudasauroides 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 Barracudasauroides

?What did Barracudasauroides eat?

It ate fish, using its long snout and sharp teeth to catch them. It was a carnivore that lived in the sea.1 5

?How big was Barracudasauroides?

It was small, with a skull less than 250 millimetres long, about the length of a pencil. The rest of its body was also small and streamlined for fast swimming.1

?Where was Barracudasauroides found?

Its fossils were found in Guizhou Province, China, in rocks from the Middle Triassic period.1

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Myth buster

Myth: Some people think Barracudasauroides was a dinosaur because it lived long ago and had a scary name.

Truth: It was actually an ichthyosaur, a marine reptile that swam in the ocean, not a dinosaur. Dinosaurs lived on land.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Barracudasauroides
Named by: Maisch 20105
Group: Ichthyosaurs
Family / clade: Mixosauridae5
Classification: Ichthyosauria > Ichthyosauromorpha5
Age of the rocks: 247 to 241 million years ()5
Countries: China5
Fossil records: 8 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery: The first fossil, a partial skeleton, was found in the Guanling Formation in Guizhou, China. It was first named Mixosaurus panxianensis in 2006, but in 2010 Michael W. Maisch gave it its own genus, Barracudasauroides.1 2
Still debated: Scientists are still debating whether Barracudasauroides should be its own genus or just a species of Mixosaurus, because some think the differences are not big enough.2

Where the facts come from

Barracudasauroides (en.wikipedia.org)
Phylogeny, systematics, and origin of the Ichthyosauria, the state of the art (palaeodiversity.org)
PaleoCodex :: Barracudasauroides (paleocodex.com)
File : Barracudasauroides panxianensis MHNT Chine.jpg (commons.wikimedia.org)
Barracudasauroides in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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