List of dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles of New Zealand

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Although the evidence is rare, fossils reveal that there were dinosaurs in New Zealand. Possibly because it lacks the right conditions for fossilisation, only fragments of bone and a few vertebrae have been found there. Because these fossils are only a single bone or a piece of a bone, the dinosaurs' species cannot be identified, but by comparing the fossils with others it can be seen which family or order a given fossil belonged to. Marine fossils are more common than fossils of land animals in New Zealand because dead animals and plants are easily preserved in sand and mud. Therefore, some fossils of large marine reptiles are nearly complete, and so can be identified to species.

Species list[]

So far, there have been fossils found in New Zealand that have been identified as coming from:

Non-avian dinosaurs[]

See also: List of Australian and Antarctic dinosaurs
Name Time Formation Location Notes
Ankylosaur Maastrichtian Tahora Formation Probably a nodosaurid similar to Kunbarrasaurus
Compsognathid? Tithonian Huriwai Measures Formation Waikato River, Waikato Known from phalanges. Associated with possible coprolites. It can’t be identified for certain, but the bones superficially resemble Compsognatids[1]
Ornithopod Maastrichtian Tahora Formation Possibly an elasmarian
Joan Wiffen's theropod Maastrichtian Tahora Formation Possibly a megaraptoran
Titanosaur Maastrichtian Tahora Formation Known from a rib
Unidentified dinosaur Early Maastrichtian Tahora Formation Known from footprints. Possibly a thyreophoran.
Unidentified theropod Late Cretaceous Tahora Formation Known from toe bone around the size of Allosaurus
Unidentified ostrich dinosaur Mid Cretaceous ??? Possibly an ornithomimid

Dinosaurs that lived in the Ross Dependency, a part of Antarctica within the Realm of New Zealand, include the tetanuran Cryolophosaurus. The Ross Dependency, unlike the Chatham Islands, is not actually part of New Zealand, and this is why it is excluded from the list above until sufficient evidence shows that it entered what was the sector of Gondwana that is now New Zealand. Newer fossils from a Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary fossil formation known as the in the Chatham Islands include six or seven (possibly more) bones from dinosaurs, as well as numerous bones from early birds, but more information is needed about these to add them to the list.

Other Mesozoic reptiles[]

Fossils of other reptiles from the Mesozoic Era have also been found in New Zealand. These creatures include:

Kaiwhekea
Mauisaurus
Prognathodon
Taniwhasaurus
Name Period Formation Area Notes
Eidolosaurus Cretaceous A mosasauroid outside of the mosasaurid family
Hector's Ichthyosaur Triassic A very large ichthyosaur
Kaiwhekea Cretaceous An aristonectine plesiosaur
Liodon Cretaceous A dubious genus, the maximum length of this species is 30 feet (9.1 m).
Mauisaurus Cretaceous Largest plesiosaur in New Zealand.
Moanasaurus Cretaceous Largest mosasaur in New Zealand.
Nothosaur Triassic
Prognathodon Cretaceous
Pterosaur Late Cretaceous Possibly an azhdarchid.
Taniwhasaurus Cretaceous
Tuarangisaurus Cretaceous An elasmosaurid

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Molnar, Ralph E.; Wiffen, Joan; Hayes, Brendan (June 1998). "A probable theropod bone from the latest Jurassic of New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 41 (2): 145–148. doi:10.1080/00288306.1998.9514798. ISSN 0028-8306.
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