Dino card No. 0462 of 2,015

Cryptoclidus

Say it: krip-toh-KLY-dəs

Name means: “hidden collarbone”1

Ate: MeatPlesiosaursMiddle Jurassic to Early CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Cryptoclidus was a medium-sized plesiosaur that swam in warm seas during the Middle and Late Jurassic. It had a small head, a long neck, and four flippers. It probably ate soft animals like squid and small fish.1

Fun fact: this sea reptile swam while dinosaurs walked on land. Everyone calls them dinos, but they were a different branch of reptiles.

Lived

165 to 143 million years ago2

Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

England, France, Cuba, and possibly Russia and Argentina1 2

Food

Meat1

Length

4 m1

largest individuals

Weight

737 kg to 756 kg1

Artist's life restoration of Cryptoclidus — How Cryptoclidus may have looked, by Nobu Tamura email:nobu.tamura@yahoo.com https://spinops.blogspot.com/ https://paleoexhibit.blogspot.com/. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Scientists still argue about colours and details.

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

The name Cryptoclidus means 'hidden collarbone' because its collarbones are tiny and hidden in the shoulder area.1

Fossils of Cryptoclidus have been found in the Oxford Clay of Cambridgeshire, England, and in the Kimmeridge Clay of France.1

The type species was first called Plesiosaurus eurymerus, which means 'wide thigh bone', because scientists mistook a front flipper bone for a back leg bone.1

Cryptoclidus had a small, fragile skull and teeth that could not handle tough prey, so it ate only soft animals.1

Scientists think Cryptoclidus used its long, intermeshing teeth to strain small animals from the water or sift through mud.1

The size and shape of its nostrils suggest Cryptoclidus could smell chemicals in seawater, helping it find food.1

Complete skeletons of Cryptoclidus have been found, including some that are nearly entirely preserved, showing both adults and juveniles.1

Myth buster

Myth: Some people think Cryptoclidus was a dinosaur.

Truth: Cryptoclidus was a plesiosaur, a marine reptile that lived in the sea, not a dinosaur.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Cryptoclidus
Named by: (Seeley 1892)2
Group: Plesiosaurs
Family / clade: Cryptoclididae2
Classification: Plesiosauria > Sauropterygia2
Age of the rocks: 165 to 143 million years (Callovian to Tithonian)2
Rock formations: Oxford Clay, Jagua, Kimmeridge Clay2
Countries: United Kingdom, Cuba, Argentina, France2
Fossil records: 17 in the Paleobiology Database2
Also known as: Apractocleidus (older names now counted as the same animal)2
Discovery: The first fossils were described in 1871 by John Phillips as Plesiosaurus eurymerus. Harry Govier Seeley renamed it Cryptoclidus in 1892.1 2
Still debated: Scientists are not sure whether Cryptoclidus caught prey by swimming fast or by ambushing it, because its skeleton was not built for speed.1

Where the facts come from

Cryptoclidus (en.wikipedia.org)
Cryptoclidus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@dinowiki.app and we will fix it.