Papo Kronosaurus Model

The New Papo Kronosaurus Model

Everything Dinosaur has received the official image from Papo of the new for 2023 Papo Kronosaurus model. Although no details of this new marine reptile figure have been published (information remains strictly embargoed), team members at Everything Dinosaur expect this figure to have an articulated jaw. It is due to be available around quarter 3 (July to September) of 2023.

A Marine Reptile with Barnacles

Eagle-eyed Papo model fans will note that there are some strange lumps and bumps visible on the upper arm, the top of the shoulder and along the leading edge of the front flipper. Everything Dinosaur has been able to use the official Papo image to gain a closer view of these features on the marine reptile model. The Kronosaurus has a colony of barnacles.

Parasites and Kronosaurus

Barnacles are a type of crustacean (Crustacea, from the Arthropoda phylum), they are often seen attached to the flippers and bodies of large whales. It is thought these whale barnacles evolved from barnacles that attached themselves to the carapace of marine turtles. Their evolutionary origins are indistinct, but it is believed that these types of parasitic barnacle evolved during the Cretaceous, so it is quite feasible to imagine a large marine reptile acting as a symbiont (living together) with a colony of stalkless barnacles, although they do seem relatively rare in the Early Cretaceous fossil record, before radiating and becoming more specious during the Late Cretaceous. As the fossil record of barnacles dates back to the Carboniferous, an Early Cretaceous marine giant such as Kronosaurus queenslandicus may have picked up some of these parasites as it patrolled the sea that covered much of what is now Australia approximately 115 million years ago.