Explore this animal in Size of Extinct Animals ↗
288 / Mesozoic
Styxosaurus
Styxosaurus snowii
More than sixty neck vertebrae formed an exceptionally long neck, while gastroliths filled the abdomen.
View original image · 1536 × 1024- Time range
- About 85–80 million years ago
- Final stage
- Late Cretaceous
- Geographic range
- Western Interior Seaway · North America
01 / DEFINITION & ECOLOGY
What was Styxosaurus?
Styxosaurus (Styxosaurus snowii) was an extinct organism known from About 85–80 million years ago, with a range in Western Interior Seaway · North America.
Life and ecology
Styxosaurus was an elasmosaur that snapped up fish and squid with a small head while four flippers drove it through the sea.
02 / DISAPPEARANCE
Why did Styxosaurus disappear?
Its record ends about 80 million years ago. Plesiosaurs as a group disappeared at the end of the Cretaceous, but this genus is not known to have survived to that event.
03 / EVIDENCE
How do scientists know about Styxosaurus?
Complete skeletons preserve the neck, teeth and gastrolith piles; joints limit the neck's flexibility.
04 / SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Check the source record
Use the scientific name to compare taxonomy, occurrence records and the fossil record. Database coverage and classifications may differ.
05 / REVISION HISTORY
How has this record changed?
- Removed an extinction cause that credited a mass extinction occurring after this species' last dated record.
- Verified authoritative entity sources and added three responsive reconstruction sizes.
- Initial bilingual species record published.
06 / CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS