''Thililua'' is a genus of

polycotylid Polycotylidae is a family of plesiosaurs from the Cretaceous, a sister group to Leptocleididae. Polycotylids first appeared during the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous, before becoming abundant and widespread during the early Late Cretaceous. ...

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 ...

, containing one species, ''T. longicollis''.

Discovery

The name ''Thililua'' is derived from that of an ancient aquatic god from local

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

mythology; ''longicollis'' refers to the animal's long neck. ''Thililua'' has been found in Late Cretaceous (early Turonian) rocks in the High Atlas mountains of Morocco in north Africa. ''Thililua'' is the first Polycotylid plesiosaur discovered in Africa, and also the first discovered that lived at a

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...

latitude. In 2010, ''Thililua'' was transferred to

Leptocleididae Leptocleididae is a family of small-sized plesiosaurs that lived during the Early Cretaceous period (early Berriasian to early Albian stage). They had small bodies with small heads and short necks. ''Leptocleidus'' and '' Umoonasaurus'' had round ...

as a sister taxon to ''

Nichollssaura ''Nichollssaura'' is an extinct genus of leptocleidid plesiosaur from the Early Cretaceous Boreal Sea of North America. The type species is ''N. borealis'', found in the early Albian age Clearwater Formation near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. ...

''.

Description

The type specimen of ''T. longicollis'', which was described in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, consists of an almost complete skull and lower jaw, articulated with 37 vertebrae. Of these vertebrae, 30 were cervical (neck) vertebrae, which is an unusually high number compared to other Polycotylids, such as ''

Dolichorhynchops ''Dolichorhynchops'' is an extinct genus of polycotylid plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous (early Turonian to late Campanian stage) of North America, containing three species, ''D. osborni'', ''D. bonneri'' and ''D. tropicensis'', as well as a ...

'', which had only 19 neck vertebrae, and ''

Polycotylus ''Polycotylus'' is a genus of plesiosaur within the family Polycotylidae. The type species is ''P. latippinis'' and was named by American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope in 1869. Eleven other species have been identified. The name means 'much- ...

'', which had 26. It is believed to be an adult specimen, since some of the cranial sutures are very difficult to distinguish. Using comparisons with the head and neck length to body length ratio of a related genus, ''

'', the estimated total length of ''Thililua'' was 5.5 to 6 metres.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q16743868, from2=Q958323 Fossils of Morocco Late Cretaceous plesiosaurs Plesiosaurs of Africa Polycotylids Fossil taxa described in 2003 Sauropterygian genera

Discovery

Description

See also

References