Umoonasaurus

Taxobox
name = "Umoonasaurus"
fossil_range = Early Cretaceous

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image_width = 250px
image_caption = "Umoonasaurus demoscyllus" from the Early Cretaceous of Australia
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
ordo = Plesiosauria
subordo = Pliosauroidea
familia = Leptocleididae
genus = "Umoonasaurus"
species = "U. demoscyllus"
binomial = "Umoonasaurus demoscyllus"
binomial_authority = Kear, Schroeder & Lee, 2006 Kear BP, Schroeder NI, Lee MSY. 2006. An archaic crested plesiosaur in opal from the Lower Cretaceous high-latitude deposits of Australia. "Biology Letters" 2: 615–619.]

"Umoonasaurus" is an extinct genus of pliosaur belonging to the family Leptocleididae Smith AS, Dyke GJ. 2008. The skull of the giant predatory pliosaur "Rhomaleosaurus cramptoni": implications for plesiosaur phylogenetics. "Naturwissenschaften" e-published 2008.] . This genus lived approximately 115 million years ago (Aptian-Albian) in shallow seas covering parts of what is now Australia. It was a relatively small animal around 2.5 m (8 ft) long. An identifying trait of "Umoonasaurus" is three crest-ridges on its skull.

References

External links

*http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060707_aquatic_reptile.html
*http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/media/public/contributionsupplementalmaterials/8/3/n/1/83n10t6p17011132/archive1.pdf