恐龍卡第 0187 張，共 2 027 張

Athabascasaurus

名字的意思： “Athabasca lizard”1

吃：肉魚龍類白堊紀早期嚴格來說不是恐龍

Athabascasaurus was a medium-sized ichthyosaur, a marine reptile that swam in the ancient seas of Alberta, Canada, about 112 million years ago. It looked a bit like a dolphin with a long snout and big eyes, and it was a fast, meat-eating hunter.1 2

趣味小知識：這種海生爬蟲類在海裡游泳的時候，恐龍正在陸地上走路。大家都叫牠們恐龍，但牠們其實是爬蟲類的另一個分支。

生存年代

113 到 110 百萬年前2

白堊紀早期

化石發現地

Alberta, Canada, in the Clearwater Formation near Fort McMurray1 2

長度

3.5 m (11 ft)1

最高速度

時速約 48 公里（30 英里）

游泳, 估計值

牠生活在什麼時候？

三疊紀

侏羅紀

白堊紀

2 億 5200 萬年前20114566，小行星撞地球

牠有多大？

牠有多長？

跟 4 隻狗從鼻子接到尾巴一樣長跟 19 根香蕉頭尾相接一樣長能在 3.8 秒內游完一座大泳池（50 公尺）

Athabascasaurus 跟「你」比起來有多大？

只是在你的瀏覽器裡算算數學。什麼都不會被儲存或傳送出去。

牠有多快？

走路的人 時速約 5 公里 (3 mph)

騎腳踏車的小朋友 時速約 12 公里 (7 mph)

Athabascasaurus 時速約 48 公里 (30 mph)

一匹飛奔的馬 時速約 65 公里 (40 mph)

一隻獵豹 時速約 100 公里 (62 mph)

酷東西

趣味知識

Athabascasaurus had 42 vertebrae in front of its hips, which is an unusually low number for an ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur.1

Its name comes from the Athabasca River, which flows through the oil sands area where the fossil was found.1

The only known fossil of Athabascasaurus was discovered in 2000 at an open-pit oil sands mine, and it is now kept at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta.1

This ichthyosaur had a unique feature on its skull: a triangular projection on the postfrontal bone that extended over the postorbital bone.1

Athabascasaurus lived during the Early Cretaceous period, about 112 to 109 million years ago, when Alberta was covered by a warm, shallow sea.1 2

Athabascasaurus 的 AI 繪圖 — 這是電腦根據科學家目前的知識，用 AI 畫出 Athabascasaurus 可能的樣子。這只是猜測：真正的動物可能長得不一樣，也沒有人知道牠真正的顏色。

給恐龍專家

學名: Athabascasaurus
命名者: Druckenmiller and Maxwell 20102
類群: 魚龍類
科 / 演化支: Ophthalmosauridae2
分類: Ichthyosauria > Ichthyosauromorpha2
岩石的年代: 113 到 110 百萬年 (Albian)2
岩層: Clearwater2
國家: 加拿大2
化石紀錄: The Paleobiology Database 收錄 1 筆2
發現: Athabascasaurus was named by Patrick S. Druckenmiller and Erin E. Maxwell in 2010, based on a nearly complete skeleton found in an oil sands mine in Alberta, Canada.1 2
仍有爭議: Scientists are not sure exactly how far forward the long processes on the supratemporal bones extended on the skull.1