Dino card No. 1884 of 2,027

Vegasaurus

Say it: VAY-gah-SORE-us

Name means: “Vega lizard”1

Ate: MeatPlesiosaursLate CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Vegasaurus was a long-necked marine reptile that swam in the cold seas near Antarctica about 72 million years ago. It was not a dinosaur, but a plesiosaur, and it used its four flippers to paddle through the water. This ancient creature is one of the few Late Cretaceous plesiosaurs from the Southern Hemisphere whose skeleton is well known.2 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

72 to 66 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Vega Island, Antarctica2 1

Food

Meat3 1

Length

6.15 to 6.5 m1

estimated

Weight

839 kg1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 28 big dogs

as long as 6 dogs nose to tailas long as 36 bananas end to endas heavy as 170 watermelons

How big was Vegasaurus compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

Vegasaurus had 54 neck vertebrae, which is more than most other plesiosaurs.1

The only known fossil of Vegasaurus was found in 1989 by a team of scientists on Vega Island, Antarctica.1

This plesiosaur had gastroliths, or stomach stones, which may have helped it digest food or control its buoyancy.1

Vegasaurus is named after Vega Island, where it was discovered, and the Greek word for lizard, 'sauros'.1

Its humerus (upper arm bone) had a forward-facing knee and a backward projection with an extra joint surface, a feature only shared with a few other plesiosaurs.1

Vegasaurus is closely related to other plesiosaurs from the Weddell Sea region, like Aristonectes and Kaiwhekea.2 1

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

?How big was Vegasaurus?

About 6.15 to 6.5 metres long and weighed around 839 kilograms.1

?What did Vegasaurus eat?

Scientists are not sure exactly what it ate, but it had gastroliths (stomach stones) that may have helped grind up food like fish or squid.1

?Where was Vegasaurus found?

Its only fossil was found on Vega Island, near the Antarctic Peninsula, in 1989.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Vegasaurus
Named by: O'Gorman et al. 20153
Group: Plesiosaurs
Family / clade: Elasmosauridae3
Classification: Plesiosauria > Elasmosauridae > Sauropterygia3
Age of the rocks: 72 to 66 million years (Maastrichtian)3
Rock formations: Snow Hill Island3
Countries: Antarctica3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Vegasaurus was named in 2015 by José P. O'Gorman and colleagues. The only fossil was found in 1989 on Vega Island, Antarctica, and was collected during three Antarctic summer expeditions in 1993, 1999, and 2005.1
Still debated: Scientists are still debating exactly how Vegasaurus is related to other plesiosaurs, especially the aristonectines.2 1

Where the facts come from

Vegasaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Vegasaurus molyi, gen. et sp. nov. (Plesiosauria, Elasmosauridae), from the Cape Lamb Member (lower maastrichtian) of the Snow Hill Island Formation, Vega Island, Antarctica, and remarks on Wedellian Elasmosauridae: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: Vol 35 , No 3 - Get Access (tandfonline.com)
Vegasaurus 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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