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The term "plesiosaur" is properly used to refer to the Plesiosauria as a whole, but informally it is sometimes meant to indicate only the long-necked forms, the old Plesiosauroidea. Like other ancient marine reptiles, such as those in the clades Ichthyosauria and Mosasauria , the genera in Plesiosauria are not part of the clade Dinosauria .
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 ]
Plesiosaur gastroliths from Tropic Shale. A gastrolith, also called a stomach stone or gizzard stone, is a rock held inside a gastrointestinal tract. Gastroliths in some species are retained in the muscular gizzard and used to grind food in animals lacking suitable grinding teeth. In other species the rocks are ingested and pass through the ...
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 ...
The plesiosaur, considered a successful marine predatory ancient species, may have been aided in its underwater hunting endeavors by turtle-like scales that covered its body -- which scientists ...
Cryptoclidus was a medium-sized plesiosaur, with the largest individuals measuring up to 4 m (13 ft) long and weighing about 737–756 kg (1,625–1,667 lb). [ 1 ] [ 9 ] The fragile build of the head and teeth preclude any grappling with prey, and suggest a diet of small, soft-bodied animals such as squid and shoaling fish.
Some marine reptiles, such as ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, metriorhynchid thalattosuchians, and mosasaurs became so well adapted to a marine lifestyle that they were incapable of venturing onto land and gave birth in the water. Others, such as sea turtles and saltwater crocodiles, return to shore to lay their eggs.
Pliosaurus brachydeirus is the (combinatio nova of the) type species of the genus. It was first described and named by the English paleontologist Richard Owen in 1841, as a species of the wastebasket taxon Plesiosaurus in its own subgenus Pleiosaurus, creating Plesiosaurus (Pleiosaurus) brachydeirus. [5]