''Woolungasaurus'' ('Woolunga lizard', named after an Aboriginal mythical reptile, Persson 1960) is a dubious genus of

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 st ...

, an extinct marine reptile, belonging to the

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 taxo ...

History

The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

, ''Woolungasaurus glendowerensis'', was named after Glendower Station by Per Ove Persson in 1960,Persson, P.O., 1960, "Lower Cretaceous Plesiosaurians (Reptilia) from Australia", ''Lunds Universitets Arsskrift'' 56(12): 1-23 is known from a partial skeleton,

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

QM F6890, (forty-six vertebrae, ribs, forearms, shoulder girdle and part of the rear limbs) unearthed from the Wallumbilla Formation (

Albian The Albian is both an age (geology), age of the geologic timescale and a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early/Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch/s ...

Lower Cretaceous Lower may refer to: * ''Lower'' (album), 2025 album by Benjamin Booker * Lower (surname) * Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) * Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England See also * Nizhny {{Disambiguation ...

) of the Richmond District,

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. Another find of undetermined species, consisting of twelve vertebrae, was unearthed from the Maree Formation (

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

, of uncertain age) of Neales River, near

Lake Eyre Lake Eyre ( ), officially known as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, is an endorheic lake in the east-central part of the Far North (South Australia), Far North region of South Australia, some 700 km (435 mi) north of Adelaide. It is the larg ...

, South Australia. A skull formerly referred to this genus from Yambore Creek, near Maxwelton, Queensland, is now the holotype of '' Eromangasaurus''.

However, because of the uninformative, flawed diagnosis of Persson (1960), Welles (1962) considered ''Woolungasaurus'' a ''

nomen dubium In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application. Zoology In case of a ''nomen dubium,'' it may be impossible to determine whether a ...

''. In 2004, the genus was referred to '' Styxosaurus'' by Sven Sachs in 2004.Sachs, S., 2004, "Redescription of ''Woolungasaurus glendowerensis'' (Plesiosauria: Elasmosauridae) from the Lower Cretaceous of Northeast Queensland", ''Memoirs of the Queensland Museum'' 49(2): 713-731 Kear (2005) disagreed with this view and followed the interpretation by Welles (1962), rendering the genus to be an indeterminate elasmosaurid.

Notes

References

* Long, J.A. 1998. ''Dinosaurs of Australia and New Zealand''. UNSW Press. {{Taxonbar, from=Q920815 Early Cretaceous plesiosaurs Early Cretaceous reptiles of Australia Elasmosauridae Plesiosaurs of Oceania Fossil taxa described in 1960 Sauropterygian genera Albian genera