Morenosaurus
Name:
Morenosaurus
(Moreno lizard).
Phonetic: Moe-ree-noe-sore-us.
Named By: Samuel Paul Welles - 1943.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria, Elasmosauridae?
Species: M. stocki (type).
Diet: Piscivore/Carnivore.
Size: Estimated around 8 meters long.
Known locations: USA - California - Moreno
Formation.
Time period: Maastrichtian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial skeleton, skull
unknown.
Because
the
holotype specimen of Morenosaurus is incomplete,
it is hard to
establish a precise classification of his plesiosaur,
especially
since the skull is unknown. It is probable however that
Morenosaurus is an elasmosaurid (similar to Elasmosaurus)
since
these were the dominant kinds of plesiosaurs during the late
Cretaceous. Additionally if this is the case then Morenosaurus
was
probably a piscivore, hunting Cretaceous era fish, though this
cannot be established as a certainty without further remains.
Morenosaurus
was named after
the Moreno Formation from where the holotype fossils of this genus were
found. Other plesiosaurs from this formation include Aphrosaurus,
Fresnosaurus
and Hydrotherosaursus,
and not only have all four of
these plesiosaurs come from the Moreno Formation, but they were all
described by Samuel Paul Welles and all in 1943. Further
discoveries from the Moreno Formation include the mosasaurs
Plotosaurus
and Plesiotylosaurus,
numerous turtles and even the remains of a
hadrosaurid
dinosaur thought to be of the genus Saurolophus.
Morenosaurus
should not be
confused with Muraenosaurus,
another genus of plesiosaur that lived
during the Jurassic.
Further reading
- Elasmosaurid plesiosaurs with description of new material from
California and Colorado. - Memoirs of the University of California
13:125-254 - S. P. Welles - 1943.
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