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Pachypleurosaurus

Say it: PAK-ee-PLOOR-oh-SORE-us

Sea reptilesMiddle TriassicNot technically a dinosaur

Pachypleurosaurus was a small marine reptile that swam in warm, shallow seas during the Triassic Period. It looked a bit like a modern sea lizard and used its long tail to wriggle through the water.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

247 to 237 million years ago4

Middle Triassic

Fossils found in

Italy and Switzerland4

Length

0.2 to 1 m3

body length

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

as long as 2 house cats nose to tailas long as 6 bananas end to end

How big was Pachypleurosaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

It swam by wiggling its body and tail from side to side, like a crocodile or a marine iguana.1

Its hind limbs probably acted as rudders to help steer, while its front limbs were becoming more important for paddling.1

Pachypleurosaurus lived during the Middle Triassic, about 247 to 237 million years ago.4

Fossils of Pachypleurosaurus have been found in the Calcare di Meride formation in Italy and Switzerland.4

Scientists think Pachypleurosaurus is closely related to plesiosaurs, the long-necked marine reptiles that came later.1

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

?How big was Pachypleurosaurus?

About 0.2 to 1 metre (0.66 to 3.28 feet) long, similar to a small lizard.3

?What did Pachypleurosaurus eat?

It ate small fish and crustaceans, using its peg-like teeth to grab them.3

?Could Pachypleurosaurus live on land?

No, its limb bones were too small and weak. It was a fully aquatic reptile that stayed in the water.3

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Pachypleurosaurus
Named by: Broili 19274
Group: Sea reptiles
Family / clade: Pachypleurosauridae4
Classification: Sauropterygia4
Age of the rocks: 247 to 237 million years ()4
Rock formations: Calcare di Meride, Meride, Besano4
Countries: Switzerland, Italy4
Fossil records: 5 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Pachypleurosaurus was named by Broili in 1927 based on fossils from the Middle Triassic of Italy and Switzerland.4
Still debated: Scientists are still debating how many species of Pachypleurosaurus existed, because the fossils show a lot of variation.2

Where the facts come from

The nothosaur Pachypleurosaurus and the origin of plesiosaurs (royalsocietypublishing.org)
On two new specimens of Pachypleurosaurus (Reptilia: Nothosauria) (paleoarchive.com)
Pachypleurosauria (en.wikipedia.org)
Pachypleurosaurus 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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