Kawanectes was a plesiosaur, a type of marine reptile. It was not a dinosaur, though it coexisted with many dinosaurs. Kawanectes lived during the Late Cretaceous and resided in South America.

All the Kawanectes illustrations below were collected from the internet. Enjoy and explore:

Kawanectes was described by the following scientific paper(s):
  • J. P. O'Gorman. 2016. A small body sized non-aristonectine elasmosaurid (Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria) from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia with comments on the relationships of the patagonian and antarctic elasmosaurids. Ameghiniana 53(3):245-268
  • J. P. O'Gorman. 2021. The most complete specimen of Kawanectes lafquenianum (Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria): new data on basicranial anatomy and possible sexual dimorphism in elasmosaurids. Cretaceous Research 125(104836):1-19
  • J. P. O'Gorman. 2020. First record of Kawanectes lafquenianum (Plesiosauria, Elasmosauridae) from the La Colonia Formation of Argentina, with comments on the mandibular morphology of elasmosaurids. Alcheringa 44(1):176-193