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Plesiosaurus is the archetypical genus of Plesiosauria and the first to be described, hence lending its name to the order. Conybeare and De la Beche coined the name for scattered finds from the Bristol region, Dorset, and Lyme Regis in 1821. [6] The type species of Plesiosaurus, P. dolichodeirus, was named and described by Conybeare in 1824 on ...
The Plesiosauria[ a ][ 4 ] or plesiosaurs are an order or clade of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles, belonging to the Sauropterygia. Plesiosaurs first appeared in the latest Triassic Period, possibly in the Rhaetian stage, about 203 million years ago. [ 5 ] They became especially common during the Jurassic Period, thriving until their ...
The vertebrae that transitioned between the neck and back vertebrae in the pectoral region of plesiosaurs, close to the front margin of the forelimb girdle, are often termed pectoral vertebrae. Elasmosaurus had three pectoral vertebrae, which is a common number for elasmosaurids.
List of plesiosaur genera. This list of plesiosaurs is a comprehensive listing of all genera that have ever been included in the order Plesiosauria, excluding purely vernacular terms. The list includes all commonly accepted genera, but also genera that are now considered invalid, doubtful (nomen dubium), or were not formally published (nomen ...
Pliosaurus brachyspondylus was first described and named by Owen in 1839, as a species of Plesiosaurus. The specific name is derived from βραχυς, brachus, meaning "short" and σπόνδυλος, spondylos, meaning "vertebra" in Ancient Greek. [ 22 ] It was named on the basis of a series of unassociated cervical vertebrae as the holotype.
Plesiosauroidea. Plesiosauroidea (/ ˈpliːsiəsɔːr /; Greek: πλησιος plēsios 'near, close to' and σαυρος sauros '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 periods.
The earliest elasmosaurids were mid-sized, about 6 m (20 ft). In the Late Cretaceous, elasmosaurids grew as large as 11.5–12 m (38–39 ft), such as Styxosaurus, Albertonectes, and Thalassomedon. Their necks were the longest of all the plesiosaurs, with anywhere between 32 and 76 (Albertonectes) cervical vertebrae. They weighed up to several ...
Pliosauridae is a family of plesiosaurian marine reptiles from the Latest Triassic to the early Late Cretaceous (Rhaetian to Turonian stages) of Australia, Europe, North America and South America. The family is more inclusive than the archetypal short-necked large headed species that are placed in the subclade Thalassophonea, with basal forms ...