''Plesiopharos'' (derived from the Greek words πλησίος (plesios), "close" and φάρος (pharos), " lighthouse", because its

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

was found in the vicinity of a lighthouse + rom São Pedro deMoel) is an extinct plesiosaur that lived in what is now

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, in the Early Jurassic. Specifically, it was discovered in São Pedro de Moel, Marinha Grande, from which the type species' binomial name, ''Plesiopharos moelensis'', derives from. At the time of its publication (2021), this plesiosaur was the most complete and oldest known from the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

Discovery

The fossils were found by two collectors, António Silva (1999) and Vítor Teixeira (2012) and who donated them to the Lourinhã Museum in 2017 and were completely prepared in the Dino Parque laboratory.

Description

The ''Plesiopharos'' holotype (ML 2302) consists of parts of the fin of the arm (humerus and radius), of the right leg (femur), pelvic girdle (pubis, ilium and ischium) of the thorax (vertebrae, ribs and gastralia) and of the neck (cervical vertebra). It would be an adult animal with an estimated size between 2.5 and 2.8 m.

Classification

''Plesiopharos moelensis'' is classified as a basal member of

Plesiosauroidea Plesiosauroidea (; Greek: 'near, close to' and 'lizard') is an extinct clade of carnivorous marine reptiles. They have the snake-like longest neck to body ratio of any reptile. Plesiosauroids are known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous period ...

Stratigraphy

''Plesiopharos moelensis'' was discovered at Praia da Concha, São Pedro de Moel, Marinha Grande, in layers that belong to the Coimbra Formation, which date to the

Sinemurian In the geologic timescale, the Sinemurian is an age and stage in the Early or Lower Jurassic Epoch or Series. It spans the time between 199.3 ± 2 Ma and 190.8 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago). The Sinemurian is preceded by the Hettangian and ...

.Duarte, L.V., Comas-Rengifo, M.J., Silva, R.L., Paredes, R., and Goy, A. 2014. Carbon isotope stratigraphy and ammonite biochronostratigraphy across the Sinemurian–Pliensbachian boundary in the western Iberian margin. Bulletin of Geosciences 89: 719–736.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q107207764 Plesiosauroids Sauropterygian genera Sinemurian life Early Jurassic plesiosaurs of Europe Jurassic Portugal Fossils of Portugal Fossil taxa described in 2021