恐龍卡第 1874 張，共 2 027 張

Vallecillosaurus

吃：肉滄龍類白堊紀晚期嚴格來說不是恐龍

Vallecillosaurus was a small marine lizard that swam in the warm seas of Mexico during the Late Cretaceous, about 94 to 89 million years ago. It was less than 1 meter (3.3 feet) long, so it was much smaller than most of its giant cousins. It was not a dinosaur, but a relative of the mosasaurs, which were fierce sea reptiles.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

94 到 90 百萬年前3

白堊紀晚期

化石發現地

Mexico, in the state of Nuevo León, from the Agua Nueva Formation.1 3

長度

最多 1 m (3.3 ft)1

最高速度

時速約 12 公里（7 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 2 隻家貓從鼻子接到尾巴一樣長跟 6 根香蕉頭尾相接一樣長能在 15 秒內游完一座大泳池（50 公尺）

Vallecillosaurus 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)

Vallecillosaurus 時速約 12 公里 (7 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

Vallecillosaurus is known from a fossil that includes the back half of the body, most of the tail, and part of the left hip and leg. This helps scientists understand how it moved.3

It lived in the ocean, not on land. The fossil was found in limestone that formed in a shallow sea.3

Its name honors a person named Don Roberto, because the species name is donrobertoi.2

Scientists think it was a type of aigialosaur, a group of small, semi-aquatic lizards that are close to the ancestors of giant mosasaurs.1 2

The fossil was found in rocks that are between 93.9 and 89.8 million years old, during a time called the Turonian.2

Vallecillosaurus 的 AI 繪圖 — 這是電腦根據科學家目前的知識，用 AI 畫出 Vallecillosaurus 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。

迷思破解王

迷思： Some people might think Vallecillosaurus was a dinosaur because it lived long ago and had a long tail.

真相： It was actually a marine lizard, a relative of mosasaurs, not a dinosaur. Dinosaurs lived on land and had different body features.1

給恐龍專家

學名: Vallecillosaurus
命名者: Smith and Buchy 20083
類群: 滄龍類
科 / 演化支: Mosasauroidea3
分類: Mosasauroidea3
岩石的年代: 94 到 90 百萬年 (Turonian)3
岩層: Agua Nueva3
國家: 墨西哥3
化石紀錄: The Paleobiology Database 收錄 1 筆3
發現: Vallecillosaurus was named by Krister T. Smith and Marie-Céline Buchy in 2008. The fossil was found in the Vallecillo area of Nuevo León, Mexico.3 1
仍有爭議: Scientists are not sure exactly what Vallecillosaurus ate or how it hunted, because the fossil does not include the skull or teeth.2