In Depth With up to forty cervical vertebrae, Microcleidus had a proportionately longer neck than other plesiosaurs. This longer neck has in the past seen Microcleidus treated as an elasmosaurid (the group of long necked plesiosaurs like Elasmosaurus), although Microcleidus has also been considered to be a cryptoclidid (the group established around Cryptoclidus). On top … Read more
In Depth Jucha is a genus of elasmosaurid plesiosaur that lived in Russian waters during the early Cretaceous. Jucha is noted for being very primitive in form for an elasmosaurid plesiosaur, though it is uncertain if Jucha was an early development, or perhaps a later surviving example of aprimitive elasmosaurid plesisoaur. Further reading - A … 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 Described in 2012, the original describers of Qianxisaurus described the holotype as a basal eosauropterygian. Further Reading – A new eosauropterygian (Diapsida, Sauropterygia) from the Triassic of China”. – Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32 (6): 1335 – Y. N. Cheng, X. C. Wu, T. Sato, H. Y. Shan – 2012.
In Depth Descriptions of the fossils of Anguanax first came to press in 2014, though the genus was not officially named until 2015 when further fossil remains could be described for it. With the first fossils coming from Northern Italy, Anguanax is recognised as being the he first pliosaur genus to be known from articulated … Read more
In Depth Originally described as a species of Plesiosaurus by Richard Owen in 1865, it was identified as a distinct genus just under a hundred years later in 1964. Archaeonectrus is now regarded as a rhomaleosaurid pliosaur, and would have been a predator of other marine organisms. Further Reading – A monograph of the fossil … Read more
In Depth Lusonectes was named from a combination of Luso (Portugese), and nectes (swimmer), and at the time of its naming it was the only plesiosaur genus named from a Portugese deposit. However Europe during the Jurassic was more a collection of islands rather than the single large land mass it is today, so it … 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
In Depth Charitosaurus is a little known genus of plesiosaur that is only represented by partial remains. The level of preservation of these remains is so low that Charitosaurus is actually regarded as a Nomen dubium by many. Further Reading - System der fossilen Saurier [Taxonomy of fossil saurians] - Neues Jahrbuch f�r Mineralogie, Geognosie, … Read more
In Depth Abyssosaurus is a genus of plesiosaur that lived in Russia during the Early Cretaceous. At the time of its description Abyssosaurus was identified as a link between Late Jurassic forms such as Tatenectes and Kimmerosaurus, and Late Cretaceous forms such as Aristonectes and Kaiwhekea. A slightly later study in 2013 by Benson & … Read more