Gunakadeit is an extinct genus of thalattosaur. It is known from a single species, Gunakadeit joseeae, which is based on an articulated and mostly complete skeleton from the late Triassic (middle Norian) Hound Island Volcanics of Alaska. Gunakadeit possessed a variety of features from the two major suborders of thalattosaurs, Askeptosauroidea and Thalattosauroidea, and it is considered the most basal member of the latter group. Despite this, it is also the youngest known thalattosaur genus, with the group going extinct at the end of the Triassic. Gunakadeit's basal position and relatively recent occurrence implies a 20-million-year ghost lineage connecting it to the rest of Thalattosauria. The skull ends in a sharply pointed and toothless tip like the askeptosauroid Endennasaurus, but unlike Endennasaurus, Gunakadeit had poorly developed joints and was likely exclusively aquatic in behavior.[1]
^Druckenmiller, Patrick S.; Kelley, Neil P.; Metz, Eric T.; Baichtal, James (4 February 2020). "An articulated Late Triassic (Norian) thalattosauroid from Alaska and ecomorphology and extinction of Thalattosauria". Scientific Reports. 10 (1): 1746. Bibcode:2020NatSR..10.1746D. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-57939-2. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 7000825. PMID 32019943.
Gunakadeit is an extinct genus of thalattosaur. It is known from a single species, Gunakadeit joseeae, which is based on an articulated and mostly complete...
snout and low crushing teeth further back. The exception to this rule is Gunakadeit, which has a straight snout and many slender teeth. Thalattosaurs often...
been a giant squid. There is a Tlingit legend about a sea monster named Gunakadeit (Goo-na'-ka-date) who brought prosperity and good luck to a village in...
possibly a member of Lepidosauromorpha. The type species is F. corami. Gunakadeit Gen. et sp. nov Valid Druckenmiller et al. Late Triassic (Norian) Hound...
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