''Leivanectes'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of
plesiosaur
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 ...
s of the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
Elasmosauridae
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 p ...
known from
Late Aptian marine deposits in central Colombia. It contains a single species, ''L. bernadoi'', which was described in 2019.
Description
''Leivanectes'' differs from ''
Callawayasaurus
''Callawayasaurus'' is a genus of plesiosaur from the family Elasmosauridae. When the holotype was first described by Samuel Paul Welles in 1962, it was described as ''Alzadasaurus colombiensis'' before being moved into its current genus by Ken ...
'', which has been found in the same formation, in having fewer mandibular alveoli and a short mandibular symphysis with three alveoli (5 in ''Callawayasaurus'').
Distribution
''Leivanectes'' remains have been found in the fossiliferous
Paja Formation
Paja may refer to:
* Paja, Iran, a village in Sari County
* Paja (given name), a Serbian masculine name
* Paja (surname)
* Paja Formation, geologic formation in Colombia
* Paja Brava
:''Paja Brava is also used in Spanish speaking countries to ...
of the
Altiplano Cundiboyacense
The Altiplano Cundiboyacense () is a high plateau located in the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes covering parts of the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá. The altiplano corresponds to the ancient territory of the Muisca. The Alti ...
, which
crops out near
Villa de Leyva, also written as Villa de Leiva,
Boyaca,
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
. The genus name refers to Villa de Leiva.
[
]
See also
* 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 inv ...
* 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 duri ...
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q62023580
Elasmosaurids
Early Cretaceous plesiosaurs
Early Cretaceous reptiles of South America
Plesiosaurs of South America
Cretaceous Colombia
Fossils of Colombia
Altiplano Cundiboyacense
Paja Formation
Fossil taxa described in 2019
Taxa named by María Páramo
Taxa named by Zulma Brandoni de Gasparini
Sauropterygian genera