Dino card No. 0969 of 2,027

Kimmerosaurus

Say it: kim-er-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “lizard from Kimmeridge”1

Ate: MeatPlesiosaursLate JurassicNot technically a dinosaur

Kimmerosaurus was a plesiosaur, a long-necked marine reptile that swam in the Jurassic seas. It had a broad skull and sharp, curved teeth for catching fish. Only its skull and a few neck bones have been found, so scientists are still guessing what the rest of its body looked like.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

155 to 145 million years ago2

Late Jurassic

Fossils found in

Kimmeridge Clay deposits in Dorset, England, and possibly in Svalbard, Norway1 2

Food

Meat1 2

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Kimmerosaurus is known from only a few skulls and neck bones. No one has found its flippers, tail, or body.1

Some scientists think Kimmerosaurus might actually be the missing head of another plesiosaur called Colymbosaurus, because their neck bones look alike.1

The first Kimmerosaurus fossil was a partial skull found in 1976 by Peter Langham on the Jurassic Coast of England.1

Kimmerosaurus had 8 teeth in its upper jaw and 36 teeth on each side of its lower jaw, all sharply pointed.1

The most complete specimen was discovered on March 7, 2015, and includes the skull roof, brain case, teeth, and vertebrae.1

Kimmerosaurus lived about 152 to 147 million years ago, during the Late Jurassic period.1 2

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

?Was Kimmerosaurus a dinosaur?

No, Kimmerosaurus was a plesiosaur, a marine reptile, not a dinosaur.1

?How big was Kimmerosaurus?

Nobody knows for sure. Only its skull and a few neck bones have been found, so its full size is unknown.1

?What did Kimmerosaurus eat?

It likely ate fish, using its sharp, curved teeth to catch them.1

?Where did Kimmerosaurus live?

It lived in the seas near what is now England and Norway, about 152 to 147 million years ago.1

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Myth buster

Myth: Kimmerosaurus is often thought to be a dinosaur because it lived in the Jurassic.

Truth: Kimmerosaurus was a plesiosaur, a marine reptile that swam in the ocean. It was not a dinosaur.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Kimmerosaurus
Named by: Brown 19812
Group: Plesiosaurs
Family / clade: Cryptoclididae2
Classification: Plesiosauria > Sauropterygia2
Age of the rocks: 155 to 145 million years (Kimmeridgian / Tithonian)2
Rock formations: Kimmeridge Clay2
Countries: United Kingdom2
Fossil records: 2 in the Paleobiology Database2
Discovery: Kimmerosaurus was named by D. S. Brown in 1981 based on a partial skull found in Dorset, England, in 1976 by Peter Langham. The name comes from the Kimmeridge Clay where it was found.1 2
Still debated: Scientists are not sure what the rest of Kimmerosaurus's body looked like. Some think it might be the same animal as Colymbosaurus, but no one knows for certain.1

Where the facts come from

Kimmerosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Kimmerosaurus 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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