Kaiwhekea is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous of what is now New Zealand. The type species, Kaiwhekea katiki, was first described by Arthur Cruickshank and Ewan Fordyce in 2002. Kaiwhekea was approximately 7 meters long and lived around 69-70 million years ago. The single known specimen, found in the Katiki Formation, is nearly complete, and is on display at the Otago Museum in Dunedin, New Zealand.

References

• Cruickshank, Arthur R.I. and Fordyce, R. Ewan (2002). " A new marine reptile (Sauropterygia) from New Zealand: further evidence for a Late Cretaceous austral radiation of cryptoclidid plesiosaurs". Palaeontology 45(3): 557-575.

External links

• Kaiwhekea, University of Otago, New Zealand