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Story: Fossils

Jurassic fossils

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Jurassic fossils

During the Jurassic (200–145 million years ago [Ma]), New Zealand was mostly under the sea. Clockwise from top left: the bivalve Sakawairhynchia bartrumi (150 Ma); an ammonite, Lytoceras taharoaense (145 Ma); a snail imprint and its rubber cast, Poroa arata (220 Ma); lobster Mecochirus marwicki; belemnites Belemnopsis aucklandica (150 Ma); and the bivalve Camptonectes grandis.

These fossils are part of the GNS Science National Paleontological Collection.

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GNS Science

by Alastair McLean

Permission of GNS Science must be obtained before any use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Hamish Campbell, Fossils – Age of the dinosaurs – Mesozoic, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/9798/jurassic-fossils (accessed 5 June 2026).

Story by Hamish Campbell, published 2 March 2009.