Clidastes facts for kids
Quick facts for kids ClidastesTemporal range: Upper Cretaceous
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| Clidastes liodontus chasing a turtle | |
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Mosasaurinae
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Clidastes
Cope, 1868
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Clidastes is a genus of extinct mosasaurine lizard that lived during the Late Cretaceous Period from 99.6 million to 65.5 million years ago in North America, and Europe. Clidastes was an agile swimmer that probably swam by undulating its body, and preyed on cephalopods, fish and other small vertebrates in shallow water.
Description
Clidastes was the one of the smallest of the mosasaurs (the smallest being Dallasaurus), averaging 2–4 meters (6.6–13.1 ft) in length, with the largest specimens reaching 6.2 meters (20 feet) long.
It possessed a delicate and slim form with an expansion of the neural spines and chevrons near the tip of the tail and this enabled it to chase down the fastest of prey.
Images for kids
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Illustration of a Clidastes forelimb from The Osteology of the Reptiles by Samuel Wendell Williston (1925).
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Clidastes skull from The Osteology of the Reptiles by Samuel Wendell Williston (1925).
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Restoration of three C. propython
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Fossil cast of a Clidastes propython skeleton next to some ammonite models at the North American Museum of Ancient Life.
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Specimen formerly assigned to C. velox
See also
In Spanish: Clidastes para niños
