In Depth Because nothing is known about Kimmerosaurus from below the neck vertebrae it is impossible to say exactly how the body of Kimmerosaurus looked. However another plesiosaur from the same formation called Colymbosaurus is known only from its post cranial skeleton. Together these two separate genera may in fact represent the same plesiosaur, but … Read more
In Depth Eromangasaurus was initially known as E. carinognathus, but this was seen as a synonym to the second species of Tuarangisaurus which was also named in 2005. The material became known as Tuarangisaurus australis until further study by Bernjamin P. Kear revealed several key differences. In 2007 Eromangasaurus was resurrected as a distinct genus … Read more
In Depth Although the last part of the name ‘suchus’ is ancient Greek for crocodile, Sulcusuchus was actually a plesiosaur, a member of the famous group of long necked marine reptiles of the Mesozoic. In more specific terms it is considered to be a polycotylid plesiosaur, with one of the more famous members of this … Read more
In Depth Today Elasmosaurus is one of the best known plesiosaurs in the world, and is the type genus for the Elasmosauridae. This group is noted for having particularly long necks, proportionately even longer than the more standard plesiosaurs. These long necks are composed of a large number of cervical vertebrae that in Elasmosaurus number … Read more
In Depth Vegasaurus is a genus of elasmosaurid plesiosaur that lived in the waters around what we now know as Antarctica during the late Cretaceous. It should be remembered at this stage that during the late Cretaceous Antarctica was closer to the equator than it is today, and the climate and water temperature would have … Read more
In Depth Saurosphargis is a little known placodont who’s only known collection of remains were destroyed in World War Two. Although this means that the original fossils are no longer available for study, the original description did mention that the rib structure of Saurosphargis was very similar to that of the Paraplacodus. This indicates that … Read more
In Depth Paraplacodus was very similar to another placodont named Placodus, hence the name which means ‘almost Placodus’, and as such it would have looked like a cross between a newt and a marine iguana with small teeth that protruded from the front of the mouth. These teeth would allow for a feeding behaviour where … Read more
In Depth Although neither a nothosaur nor a plesiosaur, Pistosaurus appears to be closely related to both. Pistosaurus had both a stiffened spine and limbs adapted into flippers, but still retained a palate like a nothosaur and for this reason Pistosaurus is often considered an evolutionary offshoot of a type that appeared alongside plesiosaurs while … Read more
In Depth Macroplata is classed as a rhomaleosaurid pliosaur, a group notable for having proportionately longer necks and smaller skulls than the more well-known short necked large skulled pliosaurs such as Liopleurodon, Simolestes and of course Pliosaurus itself. A better analogy is that Macroplata looks like a cross between the longer necked plesiosaurs of the … Read more
In Depth Eoplesiosaurus was so named for its earlier appearance in the Jurassic that the far more famous Plesiosaurus. Eoplesiosaurus was still small when compared to the plesiosaurs that appeared later in the Jurassic, though it is noted as having a proportionately long neck when compared to some other genera. Further Reading - High Diversity, … Read more