Dino card No. 1714 of 2,027

Stenorhynchosaurus

Say it: STEN-oh-RINK-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “narrow snout lizard”1

Ate: MeatPlesiosaursEarly CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Stenorhynchosaurus was a pliosaur, a type of short-necked plesiosaur that swam in the warm seas of what is now Colombia. It was a fierce hunter with a long, narrow snout full of sharp teeth. This marine reptile lived about 126 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous.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

126 to 121 million years ago2

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Loma La Cabrera, near Villa de Leyva, Boyacá, Colombia1

Food

Meat1 2

Length

7 m1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

as long as 7 dogs nose to tailas long as 39 bananas end to end

How big was Stenorhynchosaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

The first fossils of Stenorhynchosaurus were discovered in 2000 by a farmer named Jorge Muñoz, who reported them to local authorities.1

The nearly complete skeleton was dug up between 2004 and 2005 and is now kept in Bogotá, Colombia.1

Stenorhynchosaurus was originally thought to be a species of Brachauchenius, a pliosaur from the United States, but later studies showed it was a new genus.1

Its name means 'narrow snout lizard' because of its long, slender jaws.1

This pliosaur lived in a shallow, intertidal marine environment, as shown by the claystone rocks where it was found.1

An ammonite fossil was found inside the skull of Stenorhynchosaurus, possibly part of its last meal.1

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

?How big was Stenorhynchosaurus?

It was a medium-sized pliosaur, reaching an adult body length of about 7 metres (23 feet).1

?What did Stenorhynchosaurus eat?

It was a fierce hunter with sharp teeth, and an ammonite fossil was found inside its skull, possibly part of its last meal.1

?When did Stenorhynchosaurus live?

It lived during the Early Cretaceous, about 126 million years ago, in the Late Barremian age.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Stenorhynchosaurus
Named by: Páramo-Fonseca et al. 20162
Group: Plesiosaurs
Family / clade: Pliosauridae2
Classification: Plesiosauria > Pliosauridae > Sauropterygia2
Age of the rocks: 126 to 121 million years (Barremian)2
Rock formations: Paja2
Countries: Colombia2
Fossil records: 2 in the Paleobiology Database2
Discovery: Stenorhynchosaurus was named in 2016 by María Páramo and colleagues. The first fossils were found in 2000 by farmer Jorge Muñoz in Colombia, and the species name munozi honors him.1

Where the facts come from

Stenorhynchosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Stenorhynchosaurus 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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