Dino card No. 0627 of 2,027

Eromangasaurus

Say it: eh-ROM-an-ga-SORE-us

Name means: “Eromanga lizard”1

Ate: MeatPlesiosaursEarly CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Eromangasaurus was a long-necked marine reptile that swam in the warm seas of ancient Australia. It was not a dinosaur, but a plesiosaur, and it used its sharp teeth to crunch up clams and snails.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

106 to 100 million years ago5

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Maxwelton, northern Queensland, Australia (Toolebuc Formation)1

Food

Meat1 2

Length

7 m1

Weight

1 tonnes to 2 tonnes1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 4 bicycles in a rowas long as 39 bananas end to endas heavy as 1.5 carsas heavy as 67 big dogsas heavy as 400 watermelons

How big was Eromangasaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Eromangasaurus lived about 103 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period.1

Its name comes from the Eromanga Basin in Australia, where its fossils were found.1

The only known skull of Eromangasaurus is nearly complete but badly crushed.1

Eromangasaurus had seven teeth in its upper jaw, with one tooth right in the middle.3

Scientists once thought Eromangasaurus was a species of Tuarangisaurus, a plesiosaur from New Zealand.1

Eromangasaurus was about 7 metres long and weighed between 1 and 2 tonnes, as big as a small car.1

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

?Was Eromangasaurus a dinosaur?

No, Eromangasaurus was not a dinosaur. It was a plesiosaur, a type of marine reptile that lived in the sea.1

?How big was Eromangasaurus?

Eromangasaurus was about 7 metres long and weighed between 1 and 2 metric tons. That is about as big as a small car.1

?What did Eromangasaurus eat?

Eromangasaurus ate clams and snails, crushing them with its sharp teeth. It also ate fish and squid.1 4

?Where was Eromangasaurus found?

Eromangasaurus fossils were found in Queensland, Australia, in the Eromanga Basin. The skull was discovered near Maxwelton.1 4

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Myth buster

Myth: Eromangasaurus was a dinosaur.

Truth: Eromangasaurus was a plesiosaur, a marine reptile that lived in the sea, not a dinosaur.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Eromangasaurus
Named by: Kear 20055
Group: Plesiosaurs
Family / clade: Elasmosauridae5
Classification: Plesiosauria > Elasmosauridae > Sauropterygia5
Age of the rocks: 106 to 100 million years (Albian)5
Rock formations: Toolebuc5
Countries: Australia5
Fossil records: 2 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery: Eromangasaurus was named by Benjamin P. Kear in 2005 based on a skull found in the Toolebuc Formation of Queensland, Australia. The same fossil was also named Tuarangisaurus australis by Sven Sachs earlier that year, but Eromangasaurus is now the accepted name.1 2
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how Eromangasaurus is related to other elasmosaurids, such as Terminonatator from Canada.3

Where the facts come from

Eromangasaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
A new elasmosaurid plesiosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Queensland, Australia: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: Vol 25, No 4 (tandfonline.com)
Eromangasaurus australis (campaigns.premiers.qld.gov.au)
Eromangasaurus 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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