Lusonectes
Name:
Lusonectes
(Portugese swimmer).
Phonetic: Lu-so-nek-teez.
Named By: Adam S. Smith, Ricardo Ara�jo
& Oct�vio Mateus - 2011.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria, Plesiosauridae.
Species: L. sauvagei (type).
Diet: Piscivore.
Size: Uncertain due to lack of fossil material.
Known locations: Portugal - S�o Gi�o Formation.
Time period: Toarcian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Partial skull with
articulated mandible (lower jaw).
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 may only be a matter of
time before other Portugese plesiosaurs are discovered. The species
name L. sauvagei is in honour of the French
palaeontologist Henri
�mile Sauvage who found the first remains way back in the nineteenth
century.
Lusonectes
is thought to be most closely related to plesiosaurs like
Microcleidus,
and as such may represent a primitive form of
elasmosaurid plesiosaur. These are the sub group proportionately
longer necked plesiosaurs typified by Elasmosaurus.
Further reading
- A new plesiosauroid from
the Toarcian (Lower Jurassic) of Alhadas, Portugal. - Acta
Palaeontologica Polonica 57(2):257-266 - A. S. Smith, R. Araujo &
O. Mateus - 2012.
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