Cretaceous Period

Asteracanthus

Asteracanthus was a 6 foot long hybodont shark which lived from the middle Jurassic Period to the middle Cretaceous Period 165-100 million years ago. Unlike most prehistoric sharks which are known only from teeth, Asteracanthus is also known from some… Read More ›

Cretalamna

Cretalamna, meaning “chalk shark”, was a 10 foot long shark which lived from the middle Cretaceous Period to the Eocene Epoch of the Paleogene Period 105-46 million years ago. Cretalamna was one of the first so-called “modern” sharks to appear…. Read More ›

Cretodus

Cretodus, meaning “chalk tooth”, was a 22 foot long shark which lived throughout the world during the middle to late Cretaceous Period 100-85 million years ago. Cretodus was one of the first “modern” sharks to appear on earth during the… Read More ›

Caypullisaurus

Caypullisaurus was a 20 foot long ichthyosaur which lived off the coast of Argentina (and possibly elsewhere) during the late Jurassic and early Cretaceous Periods 150-140 million years ago. In 1989, the front half of a skeleton of a medium-sized… Read More ›

Kronosaurus

Kronosaurus was a massive marine reptile called a pliosaur which lived in the waters around northeastern Australia during the middle Cretaceous Period circa 105-100 million years ago. The fossils of this animal were discovered in 1899 in Queensland, Australia, consisting… Read More ›

Phaedrolosaurus

Phaedrolosaurus, meaning “elated lizard”, was a species of dromaeosaurid raptor dinosaur which lived in western China during the early Cretaceous Period approximately 130-120 million years ago. In 1963, a team of local geologists were exploring an area near the town… Read More ›

Paranomotodon

Paranomotodon, whose name means “near/almost Anomotodon“, was a primitive thresher shark which lived during the middle and late Cretaceous Period, circa 95-66 million years ago. Anomotodon was an extinct species of goblin shark, and fossil shark teeth which were found… Read More ›

Didelphodon

Didelphodon, known largely from its appearance as a background character in the final episode of the 1999 BBC series Walking with Dinosaurs, was a large prehistoric mammal which lived in North America during the late Cretaceous Period 73-66 million years… Read More ›

Cimoliasaurus

Cimoliasaurus, meaning “chalk lizard” due to its fossils being found within layers of chalk, was a genus of elasmosaurid plesiosaur which lived at the end of the Cretaceous Period 70-66 million years ago, making it one of the last plesiosaurs… Read More ›