In Depth Tricleidus is but one of many cryptoclidid plesiosaurs active in European waters during the Jurassic, although it is not as well-known as the type genus of this group, Cryptoclidus. The type species name T. seeleyi is in honour of the British palaeontologist Harry Govier Seeley. Another species based upon American fossils once attributed … Read more
In Depth The holotype remains of Vinialesaurus were initially known as a species of Cryptoclidus when it was first described in 1949, but later study has now revealed that there is enough difference between the Vinialesaurus holotype remains of other fossils of Cryptoclidus. As a cryptoclidid plesiosaur, Vinialesaurus would have likely been one of the … Read more
In Depth The first Dolichorhynchops specimens were recovered in 1900 by George F. and Charles H. Sternberg from the Smokey Hill Chalk Formation. After being named by Samuel Wendell Williston in 1902, the type specimen has been a regular feature in the display of the Museum of Kansas. The establishment of two additional species (D. … Read more
In Depth Edgarosaurus seems to have been one of the first polycoylid plesiosaurs to swim in the late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway, a shallow sea that submerged much of central North American during the Cretaceous. Like its relatives, Edgarosaurus had a typical plesiosaur body but a short neck an elongated jaws, features reminiscent of the … Read more
In Depth The discovery of Attenborosaurus was unorthodox to say the least. When first discovered the remains were referred to the Plesiosaurus genus as a new species, P. conybeari. These remains were destroyed during a bombing raid in World War II, but a plaster cast of them was made before this happened which has meant … Read more
In Depth First and most famous member of the plesiosaur group, Plesiosaurus caused a stir upon its discovery as nothing like it was previously known. Unfortunately Plesiosaurus suffered from the wastebasket taxon effect as any set of remains remotely similar to it ended up being assigned to the genus without much further thought (a method … Read more