Kronosaurus Queenslandicus

1. Kronosaurus Queenslandicus Australian Megafauna

2. Kronosaurus • The Kronosaurus is an extinct genus of the short-necked Pliosaur. It was among the largest Pliosaurs, and is appropriately named after the leader of the Greek Titans, Kronos. • They’re body shape is ‘crocodile like’ only without they’re sharp scaly skin of that of a crocodiles’. They have flippers like turtles only bigger, they have a long-pointed snout and a short tail. It was approximately 13 metres long, and had teeth the size of bananas.

3. When and Where did it live? The marine reptile lived in the vast inland sea that covered western Queensland between 110 and 100 million years ago.

4. How was it found? – Who, When, Where Kronosaurus queenslandicus was named in 1901 from a fragment of jaw with six embedded teeth found near Hughenden, Queensland, Australia, by A Crombie in 1899. It was described by Dr Longman, then Director of the Australian Museum, who assessed it as an ichthyosaur, but following the discovery of other fragments he corrected his diagnosis in 1924.

5. Why is it extinct? • The Kronosaurus lived during the Cretaceous period. • The Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event, which occurred approximately 65.5 million years ago, was a large-scale mass extinction of animal and plant species in a geologically short period of time. Widely known as the K–T extinction event, it is associated with a geological signature known as the K–T boundary, usually a thin band of sedimentation found in various parts of the world. K is the traditional abbreviation for the Cretaceous Period derived from the German name Kreidezeit, and T is the abbreviation for the Tertiary Period Artist's rendering of bolide impact.

6. Reference Page • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronosaurus • http://earthsci.org/expeditions/fossdig/kronos/kronosaur.htm • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Tertiary_extinction_event