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Cardiocorax

Say it: KAR-dee-oh-KOR-ax

Name means: “heart raven, referring to the heart-shaped hole between its shoulder blades”1

Ate: MeatPlesiosaursLate CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Cardiocorax was a long-necked marine reptile that swam in the seas near Africa 71 million years ago. It was not a dinosaur but a plesiosaur, with four flippers that helped it paddle through the water like a sea turtle. Scientists think it used a special rowing style to chase fish and other prey.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

72 to 66 million years ago4

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Namibe Province, Angola (Bentiaba, Mocuio Formation)1 3

Food

Meat3

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Cardiocorax had a heart-shaped hole between its shoulder blades, which is why it is named 'heart raven'.1

Its shoulder blade had a very small upper part, unlike other elasmosaurids. This helped it swim with a special rowing motion.2

The first fossils of Cardiocorax were found in 2015 in Angola, Africa. They included a complete shoulder and hip girdle, neck bones, and part of a front flipper.1

A second specimen was found just 7 meters away from the first one. It had a more complete hip and a hind flipper.1

Cardiocorax lived about 71.4 to 71.6 million years ago, during the early Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous.1

Its species name 'mukulu' means 'ancestor' in Angolan Bantu languages.1

Cardiocorax is a type of elasmosaurid, a group of plesiosaurs with very long necks and small heads.1

AI-made picture of Cardiocorax — An AI-made picture of how Cardiocorax 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.

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Cardiocorax
Named by: Araújo et al. 20154
Group: Plesiosaurs
Family / clade: Elasmosauridae4
Classification: Plesiosauria > Elasmosauridae > Sauropterygia4
Age of the rocks: 72 to 66 million years (Maastrichtian)4
Rock formations: Mocuio4
Countries: Angola4
Fossil records: 2 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Cardiocorax was named in 2015 by a team of scientists including Ricardo Araújo and Octávio Mateus. The fossils were found in the Mocuio Formation of Angola, Africa.1 3
Still debated: Scientists are still debating exactly how Cardiocorax used its flippers to swim, because its shoulder bones are different from other plesiosaurs.2

Where the facts come from

Cardiocorax (en.wikipedia.org)
S0016774614000444 109..120 (cambridge.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Cardiocorax 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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