Latoplatecarpus
Latoplatecarpus was a huge marine lizard that swam in the seas during the time of the dinosaurs. It was not a dinosaur, but a fierce predator with a long body and powerful jaws. It could grow over 8 metres long, as long as a school bus!1
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Fun facts
Latoplatecarpus was one of the largest plioplatecarpine mosasaurs, with one species reaching over 8 metres (26 feet) long.1
Its skull was nearly complete in the first fossil found, including the lower jaw and many teeth.1
The name Latoplatecarpus means 'wide flat wrist', because of the shape of its wrist bones.1
It lived about 80.5 million years ago, during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous.1
Scientists think its ear bones were tilted forward in life, which may have helped it hear underwater.2
Most asked questions about Latoplatecarpus
?What did Latoplatecarpus eat?
It was a carnivore that likely ate fish and possibly cephalopods, using its short snout and powerful body to catch smaller prey.3
?Where did Latoplatecarpus live?
It lived in the Late Cretaceous seas of North America, including the Western Interior Seaway, and a single specimen was found in Russia.1
?How fast could Latoplatecarpus swim?
Scientists think it was fast and agile in the water, thanks to its wide front flippers that helped it steer and keep level.3
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Myth buster
Myth: Some people think Latoplatecarpus was a dinosaur because it lived with dinosaurs.
Truth: Latoplatecarpus was a mosasaur, a marine reptile, not a dinosaur. Dinosaurs lived on land, while mosasaurs swam in the sea.1
For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Latoplatecarpus
- Named by
- Konishi and Caldwell 20114
- Group
- Mosasaurs
- Family / clade
- Mosasauridae4
- Classification
- Mosasauroidea4
- Age of the rocks
- 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)4
- Rock formations
- Pierre Shale4
- Countries
- Canada4
- Fossil records
- 4 in the Paleobiology Database4
- Discovery
- Latoplatecarpus was named by Takuya Konishi and Michael Caldwell in 2011. The first fossil, a nearly complete skull and partial skeleton, was found in Manitoba, Canada.1
- Still debated
- Scientists are not sure if the species L. nichollsae really belongs to Latoplatecarpus or to another mosasaur called Plioplatecarpus.1
Where the facts come from
- Latoplatecarpus (en.wikipedia.org)
- Two new plioplatecarpine (Squamata, Mosasauridae) genera from the Upper Cretaceous of North America, and a global phylogenetic analysis of plioplatecarpines: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: Vol 31, No 4 (tandfonline.com)
- Latoplatecarpus (prehistoric-wildlife.com)
- Latoplatecarpus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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