Dinosaurs of New Zealand

How the Earth looked during the Cretaceous period. New Zealand is connected to Australia and much closer to the South Pole, allowing creatures from different continents to come to NZ.

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.

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.

Species

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

The head of a Theropod dinosaur

Non-Avian

Name	Period	Diet	Notes
Ankylosaur	Cretaceous	Herbivore	Probably a Nodosaur similar to Minmi.
Compsognathus-like creature	Jurassic	Carnivore	Known from toe or finger bone.
Hypsilophodont	Cretaceous	Herbivore	Very large; possibly not a Hypsilophodont but an Iguanadont.
Joan Wiffen's Theropod	Cretaceous	Carnivore	Probably an Allosaur.
Titanosaur	Cretaceous	Herbivore	Known from trace fossils and a rib.
Unidentified Theropod	Cretaceous	Carnivore	Known from toe bone around the size of the Tyrannosaurus's.

For the avian dinosaurs of New Zealand, go to the list of birds of New Zealand.

Other Mesozoic Animals

Fossils of other animals from the Mesozoic Era have also been found in New Zealand. All of them lived in the sea aside for the Pterosaur. These creatures include:

Kaiwhekea

Mauisaurus

Prognathodon

Taniwhasaurus

Name	Period	Diet
Ichthyosaur	Triassic	Carnivore	Possibly an early Platypterygius
Kaiwhekea	Cretaceous	Carnivore	-
Liodon	Cretaceous	Carnivore	The maximum length of NZ species is 30 ft.
Mauisaurus	Cretaceous	Carnivore	Largest plesiosaur in New Zealand.
Moanasaurus	Cretaceous	Carnivore	Largest mosasaur in New Zealand.
Mosasaurus flemingi	Cretaceous	Carnivore	Junior synonym of Moanasaurus.
Nothosaur	Triassic	Carnivore	-
Pontosaurus	Cretaceous	Carnivore	-
Prognathodon	Cretaceous	Carnivore	-
Pterosaur	Early Cretaceous	Carnivore	Possibly Mythunga.
Rikkisaurus	Cretaceous	Carnivore	Junior Synonym of Moanasaurus.
Saurichthys	Triassic	Carnivore	Prehistoric barracuda.
Sphenodon	Mesozoic-Holocene	Carnivore	Extant.
Taniwhasaurus	Cretaceous	Carnivore	-
Tuarangisaurus	Cretaceous	Carnivore	-
Tylosaurus haumuriensis	Cretaceous	Carnivore	Synonym of Taniwhasaurus.

Dinosaurs that live in the Ross Dependency, a part of Antarctica within the Realm of New Zealand include the 20 foot long carnosaur Cryolophosaurus, sometimes nicknamed Elvisaurus because of the shape of its head crest. It is important to remember that the Ross Dependency, unlike the Chatham Islands, is not actually part of New Zealand, and this is why it is excluded from the list above until sufficient evidence shows that it entered what was the sector of Gondwana that is now New Zealand. For more dinosaurs of Antarctica, click here.

Tuatara.

Tuatara

Tuatara, the common (Māori) name for three species of reptile in the Sphenodon genus, is referred to as a "living dinosaur". From a taxonomic viewpoint this is incorrect. Sphenodon species evolved before dinosaurs emerged and were displaced by them.^[1]

See also

• Reptiles of New Zealand
• Fauna of New Zealand
• Geology of New Zealand

References

1. ^ Wilson, Kerry-Jayne (2004). Flight of the Huia: Ecology and Conservation of New Zealand's Frogs, Reptiles, Birds and Mammals. Christchurch, N.Z: Canterbury University Press. ISBN 0908812523.