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Plesiosaurus (Greek: πλησίος (plesios), near to + σαῦρος (sauros), lizard) is a genus of extinct, large marine sauropterygian reptile that lived during the Early Jurassic. It is known by nearly complete skeletons from the Lias of England.
From such finds it is known that the skin was smooth, without apparent scales but with small wrinkles (although Frey et al., (2017) reported that Mauriciosaurus had millimetric scale-like structures across the body that they interpret as scales [71]), that the trailing edge of the flippers extended considerably behind the limb bones, [72] and ...
Elasmosaurus differed from all other plesiosaurs by having 72 neck vertebrae; more may have been present but were later lost to erosion or after excavation. Only Albertonectes had more neck vertebrae, 76, and the two are the only plesiosaurs with a count higher than 70; more than 60 vertebrae is very derived (or "advanced") for plesiosaurs. [14 ...
Gastroliths and bones (right) of an undetermined plesiosaur from Kansas. The flexion ranges of elasmosaurids necks would have allowed them to employ a number of hunting methods including "benthic grazing", which would have involved swimming close to the bottom and using the head and neck to dig for prey on the sea floor.
All plesiosaurs, including Thalassiodracon were faunivorous, but widely ranged in their diets. Animals such as ammonites, cephalopods, and other invertebrates were often found in plesiosaur remains. [20] With the bones of dinosaurs and pterosaurs being found in plesiosaur remains, these animals are also possibilities for their diets. [20]
José P. O’Gorman, Leonardo Salgado, Eduardo B. Olivero and Sergio A. Marenssi (2015). "Vegasaurus molyi, gen. et sp. nov. (Plesiosauria, Elasmosauridae), from the Cape Lamb Member (lower Maastrichtian) of the Snow Hill Island Formation, Vega Island, Antarctica, and remarks on Wedellian Elasmosauridae". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
In 2003, Gasparini interpreted the M. seymourensis holotype as a juvenile because of its smaller size and the lack of fusion of the neural arches to the vertebrae. [3] The downward-curving teeth of the lower jaw indicate that unlike most plesiosaurs, Morturneria was capable of filter-feeding, scooping sand from sediments, ejecting sediment-laden water, and preying on amphipods and other tiny ...
Albertonectes is the longest elasmosaur, and more generally plesiosaur, known to date both in neck and total body length, estimated around 12 metres (39 ft) long and weighing up to 4.8 metric tons (5.3 short tons).