Category «Cryptoclididae»

Cryptoclididae

The family Cryptoclididae contains a variety of moderately sized long-necked plesiosaurs.

Genera included in this family vary depending on the classification, but the family is now well established with Cryptoclidus, Tricleidus, Pantasaurus, Tatenectes, Kimmerosaurus, Vinialesaurus, Muraenosaurus, and Colymbosaurus included within this group.

Kimmerosaurus

Kimmerosaurus is a poorly known cryptoclidid plesiosaur known only from skull and neck material (Brown 1981, Brown et al. 1986). It differs from other plesiosaurs in the large number of needle-like teeth in its jaws, and in the form of its teeth, which are completely smooth and lack the longitidinal ridges present in other plesiosaurs.

Cryptoclidus

Cryptoclidus, often wrongly spelled ‘Cryptocleidus’ after Andrews (1909), is a moderately sized plesiosaur with adults about four metres long (Brown 1981). It is known from a large number of individual specimens from the Oxford Clay Formation. Fossils of Cryptoclidus are relatively common, and provide a complete ontogenetic sequence from very young to old adult individuals.