“Long Snout Face” Reviewed

The design team at CollectA have created a number of dinosaur models over the years, they have been keen to show the diversity of the Dinosauria.  However, they deserve praise for also introducing a number of marine reptile models into the CollectA series model range.  The not-to-scale model of the marine reptile known as Dolichorhynchops is one of their latest additions to their already extensive prehistoric animal model range. Team members at Everything Dinosaur review the CollectA Dolichorhynchops model.

CollectA Dolichorhynchops Model

Dolichorhynchops was not a dinosaur but a marine reptile.  A short-necked plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous of North America which scientists believe ate fish and may have grown to lengths in excess of five metres long.  The first, nearly complete specimen of Dolichorhnychops was found by George Sternberg, the teenage son of the famous American palaeontologist Charles Sternberg.  The fossils were found in Kansas, USA, which during the Late Cretaceous formed part of a wide, shallow sea that divided North America in half.

This sea is known as the Western Interior Seaway.  Two species of Dolichorhynchops (pronounced Dol-ee-koh-rin-kops) are known, this model may represent the species called D. osborni is the larger with an estimated maximum length of 5 metres.  Dolichorhynchops was formally named and described by the American palaeontologist Samuel Wendell Williston in 1902.

The model from CollectA is an intriguing representation of the known fossil material.  The replica has a large head, with long, narrow jaws lined with sharp teeth.  The tip of the jaws are slightly kinked and the teeth a little larger, forming a rostrum effect.  Scientists believe that the teeth at the front of the jaws were bigger as they helped this agile swimmer snap up fish as they swam nearby.

The CollectA Dolichorhynchops Marine Reptile Model

“Long Snout Face” – Dolichorhynchops.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The model has big eyes, (helping it to spot its prey), and nostrils that are positioned correctly towards the rear of the long jaws.  The four, roughly equal-sized flippers are stiff and would have provided this marine reptile with its propulsion.  The tail is stumpy and narrows to a point.  It is good to see that the design team have given this reptile a long, flexible neck – ideal for swishing side-to-side through a shoal of fish.

To view the CollectA model range: CollectA Age of Dinosaurs and Marine Reptile Figures.

The model measures approximately twelve centimetres in length, making it about 1:40 scale.  It is nicely painted with a dark brown back and head, merging into a lighter, sandy coloured underbelly and flank.

There are not many models of this Late Cretaceous marine reptile available, it is pleasing to see that CollectA have added a model of a Dolichorhynchops marine reptile to their dinosaur model range.

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