Edgarosaurus

Name: Edgarosaurus ‭(‬Edgar lizard‭)‬.
Phonetic: Ed-gar-o-sore-us.
Named By: Druckenmiller‭ ‬-‭ ‬2002.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Sauropterygia,‭ ‬Plesiosauria,‭ ‬Plesiosauroidea,‭ ‬Polycotylidae.
Species: E.‭ ‬muddi‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Piscivore/Carnivore.
Size: Estimated around‭ ‬3.5‭ ‬meters long.
Known locations: USA‭ ‬-‭ ‬Montana‭ ‬-‭ ‬Thermopolis Shale.
Time period: Albian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Remains of a single individual including the skull,‭ ‬vertebrae and most of a front leg.

       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 pliosaurs.‭ ‬As such Edgarosaurus probably relied upon to speed and manoeuvrability to actively chase down fish where the long jaws would compensate for the lack of a long neck.



Further reading
- Osteology of a new plesiosaur from the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) Thermopolis Shale of Montana. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(1):29-42. - P. S. Druckenmiller - 2002.

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