Kaiwhekea

Taxobox
name = "Kaiwhekea"
fossil_range = Late Cretaceous

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image_caption = An artist's conception of the head of "Kaiwhekea"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo = Sauropterygia
unranked = Eusauropterygia
ordo = Plesiosauria
familia = Cryptoclididae
genus = "Kaiwhekea"
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
* "Kaiwhekea katiki" (type) Cruickshank & Fordyce, 2002

"Kaiwhekea" is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous of what is now New Zealand. The type species, "Kaiwhekea katiki", was first described by Arthur Cruickshank and Ewan Fordyce in 2002. "Kaiwhekea" was approximately 7 meters long and lived around 69-70 million years ago. The single known specimen, found in the Katiki Formation, is nearly complete, and is on display at the Otago Museum in Dunedin, New Zealand.

References

* Cruickshank, Arthur R.I. and Fordyce, R. Ewan (2002). " [http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bpl/pala/2002/00000045/00000003/art00006 A new marine reptile (Sauropterygia) from New Zealand: further evidence for a Late Cretaceous austral radiation of cryptoclidid plesiosaurs] ". "Palaeontology" 45(3): 557-575.

External links

* [http://www.otago.ac.nz/geology/features/paleontology/kaiwhekea-katiki.html "Kaiwhekea"] , University of Otago, New Zealand