New Zealand dinosaurs

Although the evidence is rare, fossils reveal that there were dinosaurs in New Zealand. Possibly because it lacks the right conditions for fossilisation, only fragments of bone and a few vertebrae have been found there.

Because these fossils are only a single bone or a piece of a bone, the dinosaurs' species cannot be identified, but by comparing the fossils with others it can be seen which family or order a given fossil belonged to.

So far, there have been fossils found in New Zealand that have been identified as coming from:

*Theropods (meat-eating dinosaurs such as "Allosaurus")
*Sauropods (long-necked dinosaurs such as "Diplodocus")
*Thyreophorans (plated dinosaurs such as "Stegosaurus")
*Ornithopods (small dinosaurs such as "Dryosaurus")

Fossils of other animals from the Mesozoic Era have also been found in New Zealand. These include:

*Ichthyosaurs (fish-like reptiles)
*Plesiosaurs (short-tailed, long-necked reptiles)
*Pliosaurs (short-tailed, short-necked reptiles)
*Mosasaurs (long-tailed, short-necked reptiles)

Marine fossils are more common than fossils of land animals in New Zealand because dead animals and plants are easily preserved in sand and mud. Therefore, some fossils of large marine reptiles are nearly complete, and so can be identified to species.

The New Zealand mosasaur has been named "Moanasaurus", and was one of the largest mosasaurs in the world. The New Zealand plesiosaur has been named "Mauisaurus".