Gunakadeit

In Depth        Gunakadeit is a genus of thalattosaur that lived in waters around what is now North America during the late Triassic.‭ ‬Gunakadeit is a thalattosaur genus of contrasts.‭ ‬In one respect Gunakadeit appear to have been quite primitive in form when compared to other thalattosaurs.‭ ‬In another,‭ ‬Gunakadeit lived towards the end of the … Read more

Concavispina

In Depth        Like all other thalattosaurs,‭ ‬Concavispina was a quadrupedal marine reptile that lived on coastlines and hunted in the ocean for its food.‭ ‬Propulsion‭ ‬in the water was provided by‭ ‬undulating its laterally compressed tail in a side to side motion rather than relying upon paddling with the limbs.‭ ‬Concavispina is noted for having … Read more

Miodentosaurus

In Depth        Exact measurements of Miodentosaurus have been hard to establish,‭ ‬but this could be the largest thalattosaur genus there is.‭ ‬At the time of writing the next largest genus is Concavispina,‭ ‬which is confirmed to have at least grown to as big as‭ ‬3.64‭ ‬meters long.‭ ‬Like its smaller cousins,‭ ‬Miodentosaurus was a reptile … Read more

Xinpusaurus

In Depth        Xinpusaurus is one of the better known thalattosaurs,‭ ‬and like others it had a laterally compressed tail that was suited to providing underwater locomotion as it hunted for prey like fish.‭ ‬Thalattosaurs still possessed four limbs though,‭ ‬not only betraying their terrestrial ancestry,‭ ‬but also indicating that they probably returned to the shore … Read more