Kawanectes

Kawanectes
Temporal range: Late Maastrichtian
~
Life restoration
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Superorder: Sauropterygia
Order: Plesiosauria
Superfamily: Plesiosauroidea
Family: Elasmosauridae
Genus: Kawanectes
O'Gorman 2016
Species:
K. lafquenianum
Binomial name
Kawanectes lafquenianum
(Gasparini & Goñi 1985)
Synonyms
  • Trinacromerum lafquenianum (Gasparini & Goñi 1985) (original name)

Kawanectes (meaning "Kawas swimmer") is an extinct genus of elasmosaurid plesiosaur, a type of long-necked marine reptile, that lived in the marginal marine, probably estuarine, environment of Late Cretaceous Patagonia. The genus contains a single species, Kawanectes lafquenianum, described in 2016 by José P. O'Gorman.