Dino card No. 1197 of 2,027

Moanasaurus

Say it: moh-AN-ah-SORE-us

Name means: “sea lizard”1

Ate: MeatMosasaursLate CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Moanasaurus was a huge sea lizard that swam in the oceans around New Zealand near the end of the Age of Dinosaurs. It had a long skull full of sharp teeth and powerful flippers to chase fish and other marine animals.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

84 to 66 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

North Island, New Zealand, and possibly Antarctica1 3

Food

Meat3 2

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Moanasaurus means 'sea lizard' in Māori and Greek.1

Its skull was 78 cm (31 inches) long, making it one of the largest mosasaurs in its group.1 2

The first fossils were found in the Mangahouanga Stream on New Zealand's North Island.1 2

It lived between 83 and 66 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period.3 2

Some scientists think that fossil bones found in Antarctica might also belong to Moanasaurus.1

Moanasaurus had a short, strong upper arm bone and hourglass-shaped finger bones, good for swimming.2

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

?How big was Moanasaurus?

Its skull was 78 cm long, and it was one of the largest mosasaurs in its group. The whole animal was probably very big, but scientists do not have a complete skeleton to measure exactly.1 3

?What did Moanasaurus eat?

It ate fish and other marine animals, using its long skull full of sharp teeth to catch them.1

?Is Moanasaurus a dinosaur?

No, it is not a dinosaur. Moanasaurus was a mosasaur, a kind of giant sea lizard that lived in the ocean during the time of the dinosaurs.1

?Where was Moanasaurus found?

Its fossils were discovered in the North Island of New Zealand, near the Mangahouanga Stream.1 3

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Moanasaurus
Named by: Wiffen 19803
Group: Mosasaurs
Family / clade: Mosasauridae3
Classification: Mosasauroidea3
Age of the rocks: 84 to 66 million years (Campanian / Maastrichtian)3
Rock formations: Tahora3
Countries: New Zealand, Antarctica3
Fossil records: 3 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Moanasaurus was named by Joan Wiffen in 1980, based on a partial skeleton found in New Zealand.1 3
Still debated: Scientists are not sure if some Antarctic mosasaur fossils belong to Moanasaurus or to a different species.1

Where the facts come from

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