Dinosaurs A to Z
Hadrosauridae

Nectosaurus

Generic ornithopod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Nectosaurus 9 m (29.5 ft) long
as long as 6 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic ornithopod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Nectosaurus
Length
9 m (29.5 ft)
Period
Late Triassic (235–221.5 Mya)
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Hadrosauridae Dinosauria Ornithischia Cerapoda Ornithopoda Iguanodontia Duck-billed dinosaurs with tooth batteries.

Nectosaurus is a genus of thalattosaur (marine diapsid reptiles) which lived during the Late Triassic in what is now California. The type and only known species, Nectosaurus halius, was found in the Hosselkus Limestone and described by John C. Merriam in 1905, making it one of the first thalattosaurians known (along with Thalattosaurus).

What we know

  • Named by Merriam 1905.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Nectosaurus — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.