Umoonasaurus
Umoonasaurus was a small, crested marine reptile that swam in cold seas near Antarctica about 115 million years ago. It had three bony crests on its head, like a tiny underwater dinosaur, but it was actually a plesiosaur, not a dinosaur. Its fossils are famous because they are preserved in beautiful blue opal.12
Cando viviu?
Como era de grande?
Canto medía de longo?
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Datos curiosos
Umoonasaurus is known from several partial skeletons, and one of them is the most complete opalized vertebrate fossil ever found.1
It had three thin, blade-like crests on its skull: one along the top of its snout and a pair above its eyes. These crests may have been used for display, like a peacock's tail.1
Umoonasaurus lived in a cold, high-latitude inland sea near the South Pole, where water temperatures were near freezing.12
It was a small plesiosaur, only about 2.5 metres (8 feet) long as an adult. A juvenile specimen was less than 1 metre long.1
Umoonasaurus is the most primitive and also the last surviving member of its group, the rhomaleosaurids. It lived about 115 million years ago.12
Its tail ended in a 'pygostyle-like' structure made of fused vertebrae, similar to the tail tip of some modern birds.1

As preguntas máis frecuentes sobre Umoonasaurus
?What did Umoonasaurus eat?
Umoonasaurus ate small fish. Preserved gut contents show it ate small teleost fish.1
?Why did Umoonasaurus have crests?
Scientists think the three crests on its skull were used for display, like a peacock's tail, to help recognise each other or attract mates. They were too fragile for fighting.1
Para expertos en dinos
- Nome científico
- Umoonasaurus
- Bautizado por
- Kear et al. 20065
- Grupo
- Plesiosauros
- Familia / clado
- Leptocleididae5
- Clasificación
- Plesiosauria > Sauropterygia5
- Idade das rochas
- de 121 a 100 millóns de anos (Aptian / Albian)5
- Formacións rochosas
- Bulldog Shale5
- Países
- Australia5
- Rexistros fósiles
- 4 na Paleobiology Database5
- Descubrimento
- Umoonasaurus was named in 2006 by Benjamin Kear and colleagues. The holotype skeleton, nicknamed 'Eric', was bought by public donations and is preserved in opal from the Zorba Extension Opal Field near Coober Pedy, Australia.1
- Aínda en debate
- Scientists are not sure what the three crests on its head were used for. They were too fragile for fighting, so they might have been for display or recognizing other Umoonasaurus.1
De onde veñen os datos
- An archaic crested plesiosaur in opal from the Lower Cretaceous high-latitude deposits of Australia (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- An archaic crested plesiosaur in opal from the Lower Cretaceous high-latitude deposits of Australia (royalsocietypublishing.org)
- Umoonasaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- Umoonasaurus demoscyllus - The Australian Museum (australian.museum)
- Umoonasaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): idade, lugares, formacións rochosas, clasificación.
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