Kaiwhekea

Kaiwhekea is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian age) of what is now New Zealand.

Kaiwhekea
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 70–69 Ma
↓
Restoration with size comparison
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Superorder: †Sauropterygia
Order: †Plesiosauria
Family: †Elasmosauridae
Clade: †Aristonectinae
Genus: †Kaiwhekea
Cruickshank & Fordyce, 2002
Species
  • Kaiwhekea katiki Cruickshank & Fordyce, 2002 (type)

History of discovery
Restoration

The type species, Kaiwhekea katiki, was first described by Arthur Cruickshank and Ewan Fordyce in 2002. Kaiwhekea was approximately 7 metres (23 ft) long and lived around 70-69 million years ago. The single known specimen, found in the Katiki Formation near Shag Point on the coast of Otago, is nearly complete, and is on display at the Otago Museum in Dunedin, New Zealand.[1]

Classification

Kaiwhekea has been placed as an aristonectine plesiosaur close to Aristonectes (O'Keefe and Street, 2009). In 2010, Kaiwhekea was transferred to Leptocleididae,[2] but more recent analyses do not find the same result.[3]

The following cladogram shows the placement of Kaiwhekea within Elasmosauridae following an analysis by Rodrigo A. Otero, 2016:[4]

Restoration of the head
Elasmosauridae
 

Eromangasaurus carinognathus

 
 
 

Callawayasaurus colombiensis

 
 
 

Libonectes morgani

 
 
 
 

Tuarangisaurus keyesi

 
 

Thalassomedon haningtoni

 
 
 
 

CM Zfr 115

 
 
 

Hydrotherosaurus alexandrae

 
 

Futabasaurus suzukii

 
 
 
 
Aristonectinae
 

Kaiwhekea katiki

 
 
 

Alexandronectes zealandiensis

 
 
 

Morturneria seymourensis

 
 
 

Aristonectes parvidens

 
 

Aristonectes quiriquinensis

 
 
 
 
 
Elasmosaurinae
 

Terminonatator pointeixensis

 
 
 
 

Elasmosaurus platyurus

 
 

Albertonectes vanderveldei

 
 
 
 

Styxosaurus sp. (="Hydralmosaurus serpentinus")

 
 
 

Styxosaurus snowii

 
 

Styxosaurus browni

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

See also

References
  1. Cruickshank, Arthur R.I.; Fordyce, R. Ewan (2002). "A new marine reptile (Sauropterygia) from New Zealand: further evidence for a Late Cretaceous austral radiation of cryptoclidid plesiosaurs". Palaeontology. 45 (3): 557–575. doi:10.1111/1475-4983.00249.
  2. Ketchum, H. F.; Benson, R. B. J. (2010). "Global interrelationships of Plesiosauria (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) and the pivotal role of taxon sampling in determining the outcome of phylogenetic analyses". Biological Reviews. 85 (2): 361–392. doi:10.1111/j.1469-185X.2009.00107.x. PMID 20002391.
  3. O'Gorman, J.P.; Otero, R.A.; Hiller, N.; Simes, J.; Terezow, M. (2016). "Redescription of Tuarangisaurus keyesi (Sauropterygia; Elasmosauridae), a key species from the uppermost Cretaceous of the Weddellian Province: Internal skull anatomy and phylogenetic position". Cretaceous Research. 71: 118–136. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2016.11.014.
  4. Otero, R. A. (2016). "Taxonomic reassessment of Hydralmosaurus as Styxosaurus: new insights on the elasmosaurid neck evolution throughout the Cretaceous". PeerJ. 4: e1777. doi:10.7717/peerj.1777. PMC 4806632. PMID 27019781.
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