Kaiwhekea is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous of what is now New Zealand.
Cryptoclidid plesiosaurs (those typified by Cryptoclidus) seem to have become very rare towards the end of the Cretaceous with Kaiwhekea being one of the few known members of this family present this late in the Mesozoic. Like with so many of the late surviving plesiosaurs, Kaiwhekea seems to have survived this long by becoming more specialised in its feeding. This is revealed by the shape of the teeth which are very small when compared to other plesiosaurs, as well as being very numerous, an adaptation that is thought to have helped Kaiwhekea catch small fast moving prey like squid, hence the meaning of its name, ‘squid eater’.
 |
Wikipedia has a more detailed and comprehensive article on Kaiwhekea |
Games[]
Jurassic World: The Game[]
see Kaiwhekea/JW: TG
Kaiwhekea is a legendary aquatic surface that can be created from paleo-DNA in the game Jurassic World: The Game.
