Kaiwhekea
Kaiwhekea Katiki
- Kaiwhekea Katiki Cruickshank & Fordyce, 2002
Kaiwhekea (Maori. "Squid Eater" ( kai = "food", whekea = " squid ") is a plesiosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of New Zealand The fossil remains of the only known way Kaiwhekea were Katiki found in siltstone in Otago on the South Island The rock layer is. about 70 to 69 million years old (Lower Maastrichtian ). the site was at the time of the upper Cretaceous in the vicinity of the Antarctic Circle. the fossil is an almost complete skeleton with skull, which also articulates is obtained ( in the anatomical network).
The skull is relatively large, the snout short, in the upper jaw at each side 43, 42 in the lower jaw similar ( homodonte ), small, needle-like teeth. The number of 43 vertebrae in the cervical spine as well as the construction of the rest of the body corresponds to the closely related genera. A large Temporalöffnung behind the eyes suggests a strong jaw muscles. The eyes were large, maybe order food to hunt in deeper water layers. Kaiwhekea probably ate medium-sized prey, which had a soft body, such as squid.
System
Within the Plesiosauria Kaiwhekea will be provided to Cryptoclidia, which are also known by numerous finds from Europe. He is the first Cryptoclidie found in New Zealand and, with a length of 6.5 meters one of the largest. The other found so far on the southern hemisphere Cryptoclidien, Morturneria ( Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula) and Aristonectes (Chile, Argentina) is not related Kaiwhekea particularly close.
Swell
- Arthur Cruickshank, Ewan Fordyce: A New Marine Reptile ( Sauropterygia ) from New Zealand: Further Evidence for Late Cretaceous Austral radiation of A Cryptoclidid Plesiosaurs. Palaeontology, Volume 45, Number 3, May 2002, pp. 557-575 ( 19) Abstract online
- University of Otago, New Zealand, Department of Geology Kaiwhekea Katiki, a Late Cretaceous plesiosaur from high southern latitudes
- Plesiosauria.com Kaiwhekea