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Aristonectes Scale
''Aristonectes'' (meaning 'best swimmer') is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous Paso del Sapo Formation of what is now Argentina, the Quiriquina Formation of Chile and the Lopez de Bertodano Formation of Antarctica. The type species is ''Aristonectes parvidens'', first named by Cabrera in 1941. Description Analysis of a specimen from the Lopez de Bertodano Formation indicates that ''Aristonectes'' was one of the largest plesiosaurs ever to exist, with an estimated body length of and body mass of per Paul and per O'Gorman and his colleagues. Classification ''Aristonectes'' was classified variously since its original 1941 description, but a 2003 review of plesiosaurs from Patagonia conducted by Gasparini ''et al.'' (2003) found that ''Aristonectes'' was most closely related to elasmosaurid plesiosaurs like ''Elasmosaurus''. The authors also considered '' Morturneria'' a junior synonym of ''Aristonectes'' because the former's holotype has unfu ...
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Maastrichtian
The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval from . The Maastrichtian was preceded by the Campanian and succeeded by the Danian (part of the Paleogene and Paleocene). The Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event (formerly known as the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event) occurred at the end of this age. In this mass extinction, many commonly recognized groups such as non-avian dinosaurs, plesiosaurs and mosasaurs, as well as many other lesser-known groups, died out. The cause of the extinction is most commonly linked to an asteroid about wide colliding with Earth, ending the Cretaceous. Stratigraphic definitions Definition The Maastrichtian was introduced into scientific literature by Belgian geologist André Hubert Dumont in 1849, after studying rock strata of the Chalk Group c ...
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Aristonectes NT Small
''Aristonectes'' (meaning 'best swimmer') is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous Paso del Sapo Formation of what is now Argentina, the Quiriquina Formation of Chile and the Lopez de Bertodano Formation of Antarctica. The type species is ''Aristonectes parvidens'', first named by Cabrera in 1941. Description Analysis of a specimen from the Lopez de Bertodano Formation indicates that ''Aristonectes'' was one of the largest plesiosaurs ever to exist, with an estimated body length of and body mass of per Paul and per O'Gorman and his colleagues. Classification ''Aristonectes'' was classified variously since its original 1941 description, but a 2003 review of plesiosaurs from Patagonia conducted by Gasparini ''et al.'' (2003) found that ''Aristonectes'' was most closely related to elasmosaurid plesiosaurs like ''Elasmosaurus''. The authors also considered '' Morturneria'' a junior synonym of ''Aristonectes'' because the former's holotype has unfu ...
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Plesiosaurs Of South America
The Plesiosauria (; Greek: πλησίος, ''plesios'', meaning "near to" and ''sauros'', meaning "lizard") or plesiosaurs are an order or clade of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles, belonging to the Sauropterygia. Plesiosaurs first appeared in the latest Triassic Period, possibly in the Rhaetian stage, about 203 million years ago. They became especially common during the Jurassic Period, thriving until their disappearance due to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous Period, about 66 million years ago. They had a worldwide oceanic distribution, and some species at least partly inhabited freshwater environments. Plesiosaurs were among the first fossil reptiles discovered. In the beginning of the nineteenth century, scientists realised how distinctive their build was and they were named as a separate order in 1835. The first plesiosaurian genus, the eponymous ''Plesiosaurus'', was named in 1821. Since then, more than a hundred valid s ...
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Late Cretaceous Reptiles Of South America
Late may refer to: * LATE, an acronym which could stand for: ** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia ** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law ** Local average treatment effect, a concept in econometrics Music * ''Late'' (album), a 2000 album by The 77s * Late!, a pseudonym used by Dave Grohl on his ''Pocketwatch'' album * Late (rapper), an underground rapper from Wolverhampton * "Late" (song), a song by Blue Angel * "Late", a song by Kanye West from ''Late Registration'' Other * Late (Tonga), an uninhabited volcanic island southwest of Vavau in the kingdom of Tonga * "Late" (''The Handmaid's Tale''), a television episode * LaTe, Oy Laivateollisuus Ab, a defunct shipbuilding company * Late may refer to a person who is Dead See also * * * ''Lates'', a genus of fish in the lates perch family * Later (other) * Tardiness * Tardiness (scheduling) In scheduling, tardiness is a measure of a delay in exe ...
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Maastrichtian Life
The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval from . The Maastrichtian was preceded by the Campanian and succeeded by the Danian (part of the Paleogene and Paleocene). The Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event (formerly known as the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event) occurred at the end of this age. In this mass extinction, many commonly recognized groups such as non-avian dinosaurs, plesiosaurs and mosasaurs, as well as many other lesser-known groups, died out. The cause of the extinction is most commonly linked to an asteroid about wide colliding with Earth, ending the Cretaceous. Stratigraphic definitions Definition The Maastrichtian was introduced into scientific literature by Belgian geologist André Hubert Dumont in 1849, after studying rock strata of the Chalk Gr ...
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Late Cretaceous Plesiosaurs
Late may refer to: * LATE, an acronym which could stand for: ** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia ** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law ** Local average treatment effect, a concept in econometrics Music * ''Late'' (album), a 2000 album by The 77s * Late!, a pseudonym used by Dave Grohl on his '' Pocketwatch'' album * Late (rapper), an underground rapper from Wolverhampton * "Late" (song), a song by Blue Angel * "Late", a song by Kanye West from '' Late Registration'' Other * Late (Tonga), an uninhabited volcanic island southwest of Vavau in the kingdom of Tonga * "Late" (''The Handmaid's Tale''), a television episode * LaTe, Oy Laivateollisuus Ab, a defunct shipbuilding company * Late may refer to a person who is Dead See also * * * '' Lates'', a genus of fish in the lates perch family * Later (other) * Tardiness * Tardiness (scheduling) In scheduling, tardiness is a measure of a de ...
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Timeline Of Plesiosaur Research
This timeline of plesiosaur research is a chronologically ordered list of important fossil discoveries, controversies of interpretation, taxonomic revisions, and cultural portrayals of plesiosaurs, an order of marine reptiles that flourished during the Mesozoic Era. The first scientifically documented plesiosaur fossils were discovered during the early 19th century by Mary Anning. Plesiosaurs were actually discovered and described before dinosaurs. They were also among the first animals to be featured in artistic reconstructions of the ancient world, and therefore among the earliest prehistoric creatures to attract the attention of the lay public. Plesiosaurs were originally thought to be a kind of primitive transitional form between marine life and terrestrial reptiles. However, now plesiosaurs are recognized as highly derived marine reptiles descended from terrestrial ancestors. Early researchers thought that plesiosaurs laid eggs like most reptiles. They commonly imagined ples ...
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List Of Plesiosaur Genera
This list of plesiosaurs is a comprehensive listing of all genera that have ever been included in the order Plesiosauria, excluding purely vernacular terms. The list includes all commonly accepted genera, but also genera that are now considered invalid, doubtful ('' nomen dubium''), or were not formally published ('' nomen nudum''), as well as junior synonyms of more established names, and genera that are no longer considered plesiosaurs. The list currently includes 201 genera. Scope and terminology There is no official, canonical list of plesiosaur genera but one of the most thorough attempts can be found on the Plesiosauria section of Mikko Haaramo's Phylogeny Archive; also pertinent is the Plesiosaur Genera section at Adam Stuart Smith's Plesiosaur Directory.See Smith, ''Plesiosaur Genera''. Naming conventions and terminology follow the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Technical terms used include: * Junior synonym: A name which describes the same taxon as a previo ...
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Elasmosaurid
Elasmosauridae is an extinct family of plesiosaurs, often called elasmosaurs. They had the longest necks of the plesiosaurs and existed from the Hauterivian to the Maastrichtian stages of the Cretaceous, and represented one of the two groups of plesiosaurs present at the end of the Cretaceous alongside Polycotylidae. Their diet mainly consisted of crustaceans and molluscs. Description The earliest elasmosaurids were mid-sized, about . In the Late Cretaceous, elasmosaurids grew as large as , such as ''Styxosaurus'', ''Albertonectes'', and '' Thalassomedon''. Their necks were the longest of all the plesiosaurs, with anywhere between 32 and 76 (''Albertonectes'') cervical vertebrae. They weighed up to several tons. Classification Early three-family classification Though Cope had originally recognized ''Elasmosaurus'' as a plesiosaur, in an 1869 paper he placed it, with ''Cimoliasaurus'' and ''Crymocetus'', in a new order of sauropterygian reptiles. He named the group Streptosaur ...
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Kimmerosaurus
''Kimmerosaurus'' ("lizard from Kimmeridge") is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the family Cryptoclididae. ''Kimmerosaurus'' is most closely related to ''Tatenectes''. Discovery There are very few fossil remains of ''Kimmerosaurus'' known. In fact, nothing has been found to show what ''Kimmerosaurus'' may have looked like below the neck, although the atlas and the axis are similar to those of the plesiosaur ''Colymbosaurus''. It is this lack of any post-cranial fossils, and the bone similarities that has led to the belief that ''Kimmerosaurus'' fossils could be the missing head of ''Colymbosaurus'', a similar plesiosaur with no known skull fossils. The first part of the genus name of ''Kimmerosaurus'' comes from the location of the first ''Kimmerosaurus'' fossils, Kimmeridge Clay deposits of Dorset, England (these deposits are also the root word for the Kimmeridgian stage of the Jurassic period). The second part comes from the Greek word ('), "lizard". Description As ''K ...
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Kaiwhekea
''Kaiwhekea'' () is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian age) of what is now New Zealand. History of discovery The type species, ''Kaiwhekea katiki'', was first described by Arthur Cruickshank and Ewan Fordyce in 2002. ''Kaiwhekea'' was approximately long and weighed in body mass. It lived around the middle Maastrichtian. The single known specimen, found in the Katiki Formation near Shag Point on the coast of Otago, is nearly complete, and is on display at the Otago Museum in Dunedin, New Zealand. Classification ''Kaiwhekea'' has been placed as an aristonectine plesiosaur close to ''Aristonectes'' (O'Keefe and Street, 2009). In 2010, ''Kaiwhekea'' was transferred to Leptocleididae, but more recent analyses do not find the same result. The following cladogram shows the placement of ''Kaiwhekea'' within Elasmosauridae following an analysis by Rodrigo A. Otero, 2016: See also * List of plesiosaur genera * Timeline of plesiosaur research ...
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Tatenectes
''Tatenectes'' is a genus of cryptoclidid plesiosaur known from the Upper Jurassic of Wyoming. Its remains were recovered from the Redwater Shale Member of the Sundance Formation, and initially described as a new species of '' Cimoliosaurus'' by Wilbur Clinton Knight in 1900. It was reassigned to '' Tricleidus'' by Maurice G. Mehl in 1912 before being given its own genus by O'Keefe and Wahl in 2003. ''Tatenectes laramiensis'' is the type and only species of ''Tatenectes''. While the original specimen was lost, subsequent discoveries have revealed that ''Tatenectes'' was a very unusual plesiosaur. Its torso had a flattened, boxy cross-section and its gastralia (belly ribs) exhibit pachyostosis (thickening). The total length of ''Tatenectes'' has been estimated at . ''Tatenectes'' is related to '' Kimmerosaurus'', although their taxonomic placement has varied. They were once considered to be close relatives of ''Aristonectes'' in the family Cimoliasauridae or Aristonect ...
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