Dino card No. 0327 of 2,027

Californosaurus

Say it: kal-ih-FOR-noh-SORE-us

Name means: “California lizard”1

Ate: MeatIchthyosaursLate TriassicNot technically a dinosaur

Californosaurus was a medium-sized marine reptile that swam in the seas during the Triassic Period. It had a long snout, a tail that bent downward, and flippers with round, widely spaced finger bones. It probably gave birth in the water and never came onto land.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

237 to 227 million years ago5

Late Triassic

Fossils found in

California, USA, and also the Muschelkalk of Germany1 2

Food

Meat1

Length

3 m1

estimate

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 1.5 bicycles in a rowas long as 17 bananas end to end

How big was Californosaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Californosaurus was first described in 1902 as a species of Shastasaurus, but later got its own genus name in 1934.1

Its head was small compared to its body, similar to early ichthyosaurs like Mixosaurus and Cymbospondylus.1

The tail bent sharply downward and had a small vertical fluke, which helped it swim.1

It may have had a small dorsal fin on its back.1

The finger bones (phalanges) were circular and widely spaced, giving the flipper a round shape.1

It lived during the Carnian age of the Late Triassic, about 237 to 227 million years ago.2

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

?How big was Californosaurus?

About 3 metres (9.8 feet) long.1 3

?What did Californosaurus eat?

It ate fish and other small marine creatures.1 4

?Was Californosaurus a dinosaur?

No, it was an ichthyosaur, an extinct marine reptile, not a dinosaur.1 4

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Californosaurus
Named by: Kuhn 19345
Group: Ichthyosaurs
Family / clade: Californosauridae5
Classification: Ichthyosauria > Ichthyosauromorpha5
Age of the rocks: 237 to 227 million years (Carnian)5
Rock formations: Hosselkus, Hosselkus Limestone5
Countries: USA5
Fossil records: 2 in the Paleobiology Database5
Also known as: Delphinosaurus (older names now counted as the same animal)5
Discovery: John Campbell Merriam named it in 1902 as Shastasaurus perrini, honoring Professor James Perrin Smith who found the fossil. In 1934, Oscar Kuhn gave it the new genus name Californosaurus.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure if it had a dorsal fin, but it may have had a small one.1

Where the facts come from

Californosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
PaleoCodex :: Californosaurus (paleocodex.com)
simple.wikipedia.org (simple.wikipedia.org)
Californosaurus 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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