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Gondwananectes

Say it: gon-DWAH-nan-ek-teez

Name means: “Gondwana swimmer”1

Ate: MeatPlesiosaursMiddle JurassicNot technically a dinosaur

Gondwananectes was a medium-sized plesiosaur that swam in the warm seas of the Jurassic period. It had a long neck, a short tail, and four flippers that helped it glide through the water like a sea turtle. This marine reptile lived about 170 million years ago in what is now Chile.1 3

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

Lived

171 to 168 million years ago3

Middle Jurassic

Fossils found in

Ojo Opache locality, Quehuita Formation, Antofagasta Region, northern Chile1 3

Food

Meat3 1

Length

1.5 to 2 m1

estimated from partial skeleton of a subadult

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 4 house cats nose to tailas long as 11 bananas end to end

How big was Gondwananectes compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Gondwananectes is one of the oldest plesiosaurs ever found in the southern supercontinent Gondwana, which is why it got its name.1

The only known fossil of Gondwananectes was discovered in 2014 by Osvaldo Rojas, a museum director, and his team.1

Scientists originally thought some of its bones were part of the hips, but later preparation showed they were actually from the shoulder area.1

Gondwananectes had heart-shaped neck vertebrae, which is a unique feature not seen in other plesiosaurs.2

The fossil of Gondwananectes was found scattered in pieces, but scientists were able to put it back together to study it.1

Gondwananectes lived during the Bajocian age of the Middle Jurassic, about 170 to 168 million years ago.3

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

?How big was Gondwananectes?

It was about 1.5 to 2 metres (4.9 to 6.6 feet) long, which is roughly the size of a small dolphin.1

?What did Gondwananectes eat?

It was a carnivore, meaning it ate meat, probably fish and other small sea creatures.3

?Is Gondwananectes a dinosaur?

No, it is not a dinosaur. It is a plesiosaur, a type of marine reptile that lived in the ocean.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Gondwananectes
Named by: Otero et al. 20263
Group: Plesiosaurs
Family / clade: Plesiosauroidea3
Classification: Plesiosauria > Sauropterygia3
Age of the rocks: 171 to 168 million years (Bajocian)3
Rock formations: Quehuita3
Countries: Chile3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Gondwananectes was named in 2026 by Rodrigo Otero and colleagues. The fossil was found in 2014 by Osvaldo Rojas near Calama, Chile, and is now kept at the Museum of Natural and Cultural History of the Atacama Desert.1
Still debated: Scientists are still unsure about the exact size of Gondwananectes because only a partial skeleton has been found. The total length is estimated between 1.5 and 2 metres.1

Where the facts come from

Gondwananectes (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Gondwananectes 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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