恐龍卡第 0928 張，共 2 027 張

Jucha

名字的意思： “named after Jucha, a snake-like demon from local folklore who can take off her head, referring to the missing skull”1 2

吃：肉蛇頸龍類白堊紀早期嚴格來說不是恐龍

Jucha was a long-necked marine reptile that swam in the seas of Early Cretaceous Russia. It was an early elasmosaur, a type of plesiosaur with a very long neck. Jucha is one of the oldest elasmosaurs ever found.1 3

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

133 到 126 百萬年前3

白堊紀早期

化石發現地

Klimovka Formation near Ulyanovsk, European Russia1 3

長度

5 m (16 ft)1

最高速度

時速約 28 公里（17 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 5 隻狗從鼻子接到尾巴一樣長跟 28 根香蕉頭尾相接一樣長能在 6.4 秒內游完一座大泳池（50 公尺）

Jucha 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)

Jucha 時速約 28 公里 (17 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

Jucha lived about 130 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period.1

The only known skeleton of Jucha was discovered in 2007 near the Slantsevy Rudnik village in Russia.1 2

Jucha's neck bones were already getting longer, showing an early step toward the super-long necks of later elasmosaurs.2

The fossil bones were covered in a crust of pyrite, also called fool's gold, which gave the species its name 'squalea' meaning coated.1 2

Jucha lacked some features that later elasmosaurs had, like a heart-shaped hole in the chest bone and a bar across the shoulder blades.2

The name Jucha comes from a Turkic demon that can turn into a dragon and remove its own head, because the fossil skull was missing.1 2

Jucha 的 AI 繪圖 — 這是電腦根據科學家目前的知識，用 AI 畫出 Jucha 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: Jucha
命名者: Fischer et al. 20203
類群: 蛇頸龍類
科 / 演化支: Elasmosauridae3
分類: Plesiosauria > Elasmosauridae > Sauropterygia3
岩石的年代: 133 到 126 百萬年 (Hauterivian)3
岩層: Klimovka3
國家: 俄羅斯3
化石紀錄: The Paleobiology Database 收錄 1 筆3
發現: Jucha was named in 2020 by Fischer and colleagues. The holotype skeleton was found in 2007 by a field crew led by G. N. Uspensky in the Klimovka Formation of European Russia.1 2
仍有爭議: Scientists are not sure exactly how the necks of elasmosaurs evolved. Jucha shows an early attempt at neck lengthening, but the pattern of elongation and shortening in different species is still debated.2