Microcleidus

Mi-cro-clie-dus.
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Lilah Turner

Evolutionary Biologist

Lilah Turner investigates how prehistoric animals adapted to changing environments, offering insights into evolution's mechanisms.

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Name

Microcleidus ‭(‬Small collarbone‭)‬.

Phonetic

Mi-cro-clie-dus.

Named By

Classification

Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Sauropterygia,‭ ‬Plesisauria,‭ ‬Plesiosauridea.

Diet

Piscivore.

Species

M.‭ ‬homalospondylus,‭ ‬M.‭ ‬macropterus, M. melusinae

Size

Roughly about 3 meters long.

Known locations

England.

Time Period

Toarcian of the Jurassic.

Fossil representation

At least one almost complete specimen.

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 of this some researchers consider Microcleidus to actually be intermediate in form,‭ ‬and so should be placed between these two groups.

       As a living animal,‭ ‬Microcleidus would have been a more specialised hunter of fish than its shorter necked brethren.‭ ‬This would seem to be the trend taken by the piscivorous plesiosaurs as they progressed through the Jurassic,‭ ‬something that was in stark contrast to the shorter necked,‭ ‬large skulled pliosaurs like Liopleurodon that were distantly related but evolving to hunt marine reptiles like plesiosaurs.

Further Reading

Further reading- A preliminary note on two new genera of upper Liassic plesiosaurs. – Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society 54(4):1-28. – D. M. S. Watson – 1909.

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