Kwangsisaurus

Say it: kwang-SEE-sore-us

Name means: “Guangxi lizard”1

Ate: FishOther sea reptilesEarly Triassic to Middle TriassicNot technically a dinosaur

Kwangsisaurus was a marine reptile that swam in the warm seas of China during the Middle Triassic. It was a type of sauropterygian, a group that includes the famous plesiosaurs. This reptile had a long body and paddle-like limbs for swimming.1 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

251 to 247 million years ago3

Early Triassic to Middle Triassic

Fossils found in

Guangxi, China1 2

Food

Fish1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Kwangsisaurus was named by Chinese paleontologist Yang Zhongjian (also known as C. C. Young) in 1959.1

The only known fossil of Kwangsisaurus is a partial skeleton found in Wuming County, Guangxi, China.2

Kwangsisaurus lived during the Olenekian to Anisian stages of the Triassic, about 250 to 244 million years ago.1 2

This reptile was a pistosaurid, a group of early sauropterygians that were ancestors of the later plesiosaurs.1

Kwangsisaurus had dorsal vertebrae with long, expanded transverse processes, which helped support its body.1

Its coracoid bone was broad and plate-like, with a rounded inner edge and a bell-shaped outer edge.1

The humerus (upper arm bone) of Kwangsisaurus was curved, and it lacked an entepicondylar foramen, a hole found in some other reptiles.1

AI-made picture of Kwangsisaurus — An AI-made picture of how Kwangsisaurus 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: Kwangsisaurus
Named by: Young 19593
Group: Other sea reptiles
Family / clade: Pistosauroidea3
Classification: Sauropterygia3
Age of the rocks: 251 to 247 million years ()3
Rock formations: Beisi3
Countries: China3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Kwangsisaurus was named by Chinese paleontologist Yang Zhongjian (C. C. Young) in 1959 based on a partial skeleton found in Wuming County, Guangxi, China.1 2
Still debated: Scientists are unsure about the exact size of Kwangsisaurus because only a partial skeleton has been found.1

Where the facts come from

PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
论广西武鸣三叠纪海生爬行动物东方广西龙(鳍龙类)的时代 (vertpala.ac.cn)
Kwangsisaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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