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Cryptoclididae
Cryptoclididae is a family of medium-sized plesiosaurs that existed from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. They had long necks, broad and short skulls and densely packed teeth. They fed on small soft-bodied preys such as small fish and crustaceans. The earliest members of the family appeared during the early Bajocian, and they represented the dominant group of long-necked plesiosaurs during the latter half of the Jurassic. Classification In 2010, two supposed late Cretaceous members of the group were reclassified as other kinds of plesiosauroids. '' Kaiwhekea'' was reclassified to Leptocleididae, and '' Aristonectes'' was transferred to Elasmosauridae. Cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ... based on Ketchum and Benson (2010): References Ext ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elasmosauridae
Elasmosauridae, often called elasmosaurs or elasmosaurids, is an extinct family of plesiosaurs that lived from the Hauterivian stage of the Early Cretaceous to the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous period (c. 130 to 66 mya). The taxon was initially erected in 1869 by Edward Drinker Cope to include the type genus '' Elasmosaurus'' with the related '' Cimoliasaurus'', although he did not argued in detail why. Over the following years, many authors recognized this classification on the basis of predominantly postcranial features, becoming one of the three groups in which plesiosaurs were often classified during the 19th century, along with the Pliosauridae and the Plesiosauridae. However, most of these traits led to many genera since recognized as belonging to other plesiosaur families being classified as elasmosaurids. Another family historically considered as distinct, the Cimoliasauridae, has since 2009 been recognized as a junior synonym of the Elasmosauridae. Along ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cryptoclididae
Cryptoclididae is a family of medium-sized plesiosaurs that existed from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. They had long necks, broad and short skulls and densely packed teeth. They fed on small soft-bodied preys such as small fish and crustaceans. The earliest members of the family appeared during the early Bajocian, and they represented the dominant group of long-necked plesiosaurs during the latter half of the Jurassic. Classification In 2010, two supposed late Cretaceous members of the group were reclassified as other kinds of plesiosauroids. '' Kaiwhekea'' was reclassified to Leptocleididae, and '' Aristonectes'' was transferred to Elasmosauridae. Cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ... based on Ketchum and Benson (2010): References Ext ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kimmerosaurus
''Kimmerosaurus'' ("lizard from Kimmeridge") is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the family Cryptoclididae. It is known from remains found in England and Norway. 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 holotype is NHMUK R.8431, a partial skull previously referred to '' Cryptoclidus eurymerus''. It was discovered alongside the second specimen by Peter Langham at Endcome Bay, Dorset in 1976 and was named as ''Kimmerosaurus langhami'' by Brown (1981b). NHMUK PV R 10042, a skull and five cervical vertebrae, was also discovered in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Aristonecti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abyssosaurus
''Abyssosaurus'' ("bottomless lizard") is an extinct genus of cryptoclidid plesiosaur known from the Early Cretaceous of Chuvash Republic, western Russia. The type specimen, consisting of a fairly complete postcranial skeleton and parts of a skull, was discovered around the left tributary of the Sura River by Vasily V. Mita; it was found alongside the remains of a possible fetus, though this has not been described. Subsequently, the specimen entered the collection of the Museum of Chuvash Natural Historical Society. It was described in 2011 by Alexander Yu Berezin, who named its type species, ''A. nataliae'', after his wife and colleague, Nataliya Berezina. While Berezin initially believed that ''Abyssosaurus'' was a basal aristonectid, part of a lineage whose later members evolved into giant filter-feeders, later studies have concluded that it was instead related to '' Colymbosaurus''. ''Abyssosaurus'' was aberrant compared to other cryptoclidids. It was a large animal, with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muraenosaurus
''Muraenosaurus'' (from the Latin "''Muraena''" meaning "eel" and "''Sauros''" meaning lizard) is an extinct genus of cryptoclidid plesiosaur reptile from the Oxford Clay of Southern England. The genus was given its name due to the eel-like appearance of the long neck and small head. ''Muraenosaurus'' grew up to in length and lived roughly between 160 Ma (million years ago) and 164 Ma in the Callovian of the middle Jurassic. Charles E. Leeds collected the first ''Muraenosaurus'' which was then described by H. G. Seeley.Seeley, HG. 1874. On ''Murænosaurus Leedsii'', a Plesiosaurian from the Oxford Clay. Part I. ''Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society'' 30: 197-208. The specimen may have suffered some damage due to the casual style of Charles Leeds’ collection. The first muraenosaur was recovered with pieces missing from the skull and many of the caudal vertebrae absent. Because the animal was described from Charles Leeds’ collection it was given the name ''Muraenosaurus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plesiosaur
The Plesiosauria or plesiosaurs are an Order (biology), order or clade of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles, belonging to the Sauropterygia. Plesiosaurs first appeared in the latest Triassic Period (geology), 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 species have been described. In the early twenty-first cent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muraenosaurus L2
''Muraenosaurus'' (from the Latin "'' Muraena''" meaning "eel" and "''Sauros''" meaning lizard) is an extinct genus of cryptoclidid plesiosaur reptile from the Oxford Clay of Southern England. The genus was given its name due to the eel-like appearance of the long neck and small head. ''Muraenosaurus'' grew up to in length and lived roughly between 160 Ma (million years ago) and 164 Ma in the Callovian of the middle Jurassic. Charles E. Leeds collected the first ''Muraenosaurus'' which was then described by H. G. Seeley.Seeley, HG. 1874. On ''Murænosaurus Leedsii'', a Plesiosaurian from the Oxford Clay. Part I. ''Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society'' 30: 197-208. The specimen may have suffered some damage due to the casual style of Charles Leeds’ collection. The first muraenosaur was recovered with pieces missing from the skull and many of the caudal vertebrae absent. Because the animal was described from Charles Leeds’ collection it was given the name ''Muraeno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Picrocleidus
''Picrocleidus'' is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the Middle Jurassic Oxford Clay Formation ( Callovian stage) of the United Kingdom. Discovery and naming The holotype was discovered in the Oxford Clay Formation in Peterborough, England and acquired by Alfred Nicholson Leeds.Andrews, Charles W. (1910). A descriptive catalogue of the marine reptiles of the Oxford Clay, Part 2. British Museum (Nat. Soc.) 13:139-149. It was initially assigned to ''Muraenosaurus'' as ''M. beloclis'' by Seeley in 1892. The specific name means "arrow clavicle", referring to the triangular interclavicula. ''M. beloclis'' was moved to its own genus ''Picrocleidus'' by Charles William Andrews in 1910.Muraenosaurus? Reedii, Sp. Nov. and Tricleidus? Laramiensis Knight, American Jurassic Plesiosaurs. ''The Journal of Geology'', ''20'', 4, 344-352. The generic name is derived from Greek ''pikros'', "sharp", en ''kleis'', "key", again referring to the clavicles. Five specimens are known: T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tricleidus
''Tricleidus'' is an extinct genus of cryptoclidid plesiosaur known from only specimen (BMNH R3539) from the middle Jurassic of United Kingdom. It was first named by Andrews in 1909 and the type species is ''Tricleidus seeleyi''. One species, ''T. svalbardensis'', was moved into '' Colymbosaurus'' in 2012. It was found in the Agardhfjellet Formation, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of .... See also * List of plesiosaur genera * Timeline of plesiosaur research References Cryptoclididae Middle Jurassic plesiosaurs of Europe Fossil taxa described in 1909 Taxa named by Charles William Andrews Oxford Clay Sauropterygian genera {{plesiosaur-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ophthalmothule
''Ophthalmothule'' (meaning "eye of the north"), was a Cryptoclididae, cryptoclidid Plesiosauria, plesiosaur dating to the latest Volgian (around the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary), found in the Slottsmøya Member Lagerstätte of the Agardhfjellet Formation in Spitsbergen. The type species is ''O. cryostea''. Description ''Ophthalmothule'' was a medium-sized plesiosaur, measuring long. It was noted to have unusually large eye sockets, which suggests a paleobiological specialization, such as deep water and/or nocturnal hunting. Along with ''Abyssosaurus'', it is one of the youngest cryptoclidids known from Boreal ecosystem, boreal regions. The holotype is known from skeletal material that includes a complete cranium and a partial mandible, a complete and articulated cervical vertebrae, a set of pectoral and anterior to middle dorsal series, and the pectoral girdle and anterior humeri. References Cryptoclididae Tithonian life Plesiosaurs of Europe Late Jurassic rept ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spitrasaurus
''Spitrasaurus'' is an extinct genus of cryptoclidid plesiosauroid plesiosaur known from the uppermost Jurassic of central Spitsbergen, NorwayLow resolusion pdf /ref> and likely also Kimmeridge, . It is named after a |
