Under construction Skeleton of Brancasaurus in side view. From Sachs et al. (2016) Skull of Brancasaurus in dorsal and lateral view, and showing the tip of the snout (C) in ventral view (from Wegner 1914)...
Bobosaurus shares many characteristics with plesiosaurs and is one of a number of recently discovered derived sauropterygians that bridge the gap between basal sauropterygians and plesiosaurians. The name honours the person who found the skeleton, Mr Roberto “Bobo” Rigo (Dalla Vecchia 2006). Skeleton of Bobosaurus, preserved in situ. From Dalla Vecchia (2006) The holotype of Bobosaurus (From Dalla Vecchia 2006)...
The genus Atychodracon was erected by Smith (2015) to accommodate ‘Rhomaleosaurus’ megacephalus, because it is generically separarate from Rhomaleosaurus sensu stricto (Smith and Dyke 2008). A. megacephalus is closely related to Eurycleidus and some authors have regarded A. megacephalus as a distinct species of Eurycleidus. Three dimensional scan with texture (colour) removed of plaster cast (BGS GSM 118410) of the...
Attenborosaurus is an unusual plesiosaur because it combines a long neck with a relatively large head. It is classified as a pliosaur in some classifications, but some phylogenies place it in a more basal position. The genus was introduced for ‘Plesiosaurus’ conybeari, a species originally described by Sollas (1881). Bob Bakker coined the new genus name to honour the esteemed...
The mysterious plesiosaur Aristonectes is notable for its mouthful of pin-like teeth. A special feeding guild, the ‘trap guild’, has been proposed to accommodate Aristonectes and other plesiosaurs with similar dentition (Chatterjee and Small 1989) such as Cryptoclidus, Kimmerosaurus, and Kaiwhekea. These plesiosaurs may have fed in a similar manner to the extant crabeater seal, using their sieve-like teeth to...
Albertonectes is a very long-necked elasmosaurid from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada. The holotype specimen (TMP 2007.0110001) consists of an almost complete skeleton lacking a skull (Kubo et al. 2012). The neck contains 76 cervical vertebrae, which is a unique character of Albertonectes vanderveldei and the highest number of neck vertebrae known for any plesiosaur, surpassing the previous record-holder...
The genus Archaeonectrus was proposed by Novozhilov (1964) for ‘Plesiosaurus’ rostratus, a species named by Owen (1865). By modern standards, Owen’s (1865) original description is rather inadequate. One notable characteristic of Archaeonectrus rostratus is the relatively small size of the limbs relative to its body. It has been classified as a pliosauroid, sometimes within the Rhomaleosauridae. Archaeonectrus rostratus is the...