Mid-Cretaceous marine reptiles from the Southern Carnarvon Basin

Research Projects | Updated 1 month ago

A partial skeleton of a leptocleidid plesiosaur laid out on a black background
A partial skeleton of a leptocleidid plesiosaur found in the Giralia Range by long term WAM supporter/donor Rob Ranalli
WA Museum

The lower Murchison River area and Giralia Range expose marine sedimentary rocks of mid-Cretaceous age, locally rich in remains of extinct marine reptiles.

The material comprises isolated teeth and bones as well as partial skeletons. Ichthyosaurs dominate the reptilian faunas, but several types of plesiosaurs and turtles are also present.

Although numerically less abundant than the ichthyosaurs, the plesiosaurs were highly diverse in body shape and include long-necked elasmosaurs, small-sized leptocleidids and giant super-predatory pliosaurs (that probably reached around 10 metres in adult body length).

The collected specimens include multiple potentially new species and will be the subject of a PhD research program with Curtin University.