Jurassic Period

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 ›

Muraenosaurus

Muraenosaurus, “the moray eel lizard”, was a medium-sized plesiosaur which lived in the sea which once covered southern England and northern France during the middle of the Jurassic Period 165-164 million years ago. In the 19th Century, a partial skeleton… Read More ›

Kayentatherium

Kayentatherium, “the beast from the Kayenta Formation”, was a cynodont (one of a group of mammal ancestors which are sometimes called “mammal-like reptiles”) which lived in Arizona during the early Jurassic Period approximately 185-180 million years ago. Kanyentatherium was big,… Read More ›

Hauffiosaurus

Hauffiosaurus was a genus of plesiosaur which lived around England and Germany during the early Jurassic Period. There are currently three known species: H. zanoni, H. tomistomimus, and H. longirostris. Of these, Hauffiosaurus longirostris was the largest, measuring almost 16… Read More ›

Macroplata

Macroplata was a 15 foot long plesiosaur which lived around England during the early Jurassic Period 199 million years ago. In either late 1927 or early 1928, a plesiosaur skeleton was discovered in a limestone quarry in Harbury, Warwickshire, England…. Read More ›

Scutellosaurus

Scutellosaurus, “the little shield lizard”, was a small 4.4 foot long armored dinosaur which lived in Arizona during the early Jurassic Period approximately 185 million years ago. At present, Scutellosaurus is the most common dinosaur known from the Kayenta Formation…. Read More ›

Temnodontosaurus

Temnodontosaurus was a massive 30 foot long ichthyosaur which lived in the seas around western Europe during the early Jurassic Period approximately 200-180 million years ago. The time from the middle Triassic to the early Jurassic Periods, approximately 240-175 million… Read More ›

Plesiosaurus

Plesiosaurus was a 10 foot long marine reptile which swam in the seas around England during the early Jurassic Period about 195 million years ago. During the early 19th Century, isolated fossil bones were discovered scattered in various locations on… Read More ›

Ichthyosaurus

Ichthyosaurus, the quintessential prehistoric reptilian dolphin analog, was a marine reptile which lived in the seas around England during the early Jurassic Period approximately 200-190 million years ago. The first fossils were discovered in 1814 by Mary Anning in Lyme… Read More ›