All Topics  
Plesiosaur

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Plesiosaur
 
 
  Topics Plesiosaur Topic Home

Plesiosaurs (Greek
Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
: plesios/p??s??? meaning 'near' or 'close to' and sauros/sa???? meaning 'lizard') were carnivorous
Carnivore

A carnivore , meaning 'meat eater' , is any animal with a diet consisting mainly of meat, whether it comes from animals living or dead .In a more general sense, an animal may be considered a carnivore if it prefers feeding on animal matter over plant matter....
 aquatic (mostly marine) reptile
Reptile

Reptiles, or members of the class Reptilia, are air-breathing, cold-blooded vertebrates that have skin covered in scale as opposed to hair or feathers....
s. After their discovery, they were somewhat fancifully said to have resembled , although they had no shell.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Plesiosaur'
Start a new discussion about 'Plesiosaur'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Recent Posts

How did the plesiosaur become extinct?








Encyclopedia


Plesiosaurs (Greek
Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
: plesios/p??s??? meaning 'near' or 'close to' and sauros/sa???? meaning 'lizard') were carnivorous
Carnivore

A carnivore , meaning 'meat eater' , is any animal with a diet consisting mainly of meat, whether it comes from animals living or dead .In a more general sense, an animal may be considered a carnivore if it prefers feeding on animal matter over plant matter....
 aquatic (mostly marine) reptile
Reptile

Reptiles, or members of the class Reptilia, are air-breathing, cold-blooded vertebrates that have skin covered in scale as opposed to hair or feathers....
s. After their discovery, they were somewhat fancifully said to have resembled , although they had no shell. The common name 'plesiosaur' is applied both to the 'true' plesiosaurs (Suborder Plesiosauroidea) which includes both long-necked (elasmosaurs) and short-necked (polycotylid) forms and to the larger taxonomic rank of Plesiosauria
Plesiosauria

Plesiosauria are an Order of Mesozoic marine reptiles. They first appeared in the middle Triassic Period and became especially common during the Jurassic Period, thriving until the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous Period....
, which includes the pliosaur
Pliosaur

The Pliosaurs were Marine reptiles from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Period . They originally included members of the family Pliosauridae, of the Order Plesiosauria, but several other genera and families are now also included; the number and details of which vary according to the classification used....
s. The pliosaurs were the short-necked, large-headed plesiosaurians that were the apex predator
Apex predator

Apex predators are predators that, as adults, are not normally preyed upon in the wild by other large animals in significant parts of their range....
s for much of the Mesozoic
Mesozoic

The Mesozoic Era is one of three Geologic time scale of the Phanerozoic eon . The division of time into eras dates back to Giovanni Arduino, in the 18th century, although his original name for the era now called the 'Mesozoic' was 'Secondary' ....
. There were many species of plesiosaurs, while most of them were not as large as Elasmosaurus
Elasmosaurus

Elasmosaurus Greek language e?as???/elasmos = thin plate + sa????/sauros = lizard) is a genus of plesiosaur with an extremely long neck that lived in the Late Cretaceous....
.

Plesiosaurs (sensu
Sensu

Sensu is a Latin term meaning "in the sense of".It is used in fields including biology, geology and law in the phrases sensu stricto or stricto sensu , and sensu lato or lato sensu ....
 Plesiosauroidea) appeared at the start of the Jurassic
Jurassic

The Jurassic is a geologic period that extends from about annum to  Ma, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous....
 Period and thrived until the K-T extinction
Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event

The Cretaceous?Tertiary extinction event, which occurred approximately , was a large-scale Extinction event of animal and plant species in a geologically short period of time....
, at the end of the Cretaceous
Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide, is a geologic period from circa to million years ago . In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period....
 Period. While they were Mesozoic
Mesozoic

The Mesozoic Era is one of three Geologic time scale of the Phanerozoic eon . The division of time into eras dates back to Giovanni Arduino, in the 18th century, although his original name for the era now called the 'Mesozoic' was 'Secondary' ....
 reptiles that lived at the same time as dinosaurs, they were not dinosaur
Dinosaur

Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrate animals of Landform ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic Period until the end of the Cretaceous Period , when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous?Tertiary extinction event....
s.

History of discovery

The first plesiosaur skeletons were found in England by Mary Anning
Mary Anning

Mary Anning was an early British fossil collector and paleontology....
, in the early 1800s, and were amongst the first fossil vertebrates to be described by science. Many have been found, some of them virtually complete, and new discoveries are made frequently. One of the finest specimens was found in 2002 on the coast of Somerset
Somerset

Somerset is a Counties of England in South West England. The county town is Taunton, which is in the south of the county. The Ceremonial counties of England of Somerset borders the counties of Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west....
 (England) by someone fishing from the shore. This specimen, called the Collard specimen after its finder, was on display in Taunton
Taunton

Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. The town, including its suburbs, had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001. It is the largest town in the non-metropolitan county of Somerset....
 museum in 2007. Another, less complete skeleton was also found in 2002, in the cliffs at Filey
Filey

Filey is a small town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It forms part of the Scarborough and is located between Scarborough, North Yorkshire and Bridlington on the North Sea coast....
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a Historic counties of England of northern England and the largest in Great Britain. Because of its great size, over time functions were increasingly undertaken by its subdivisions, which have been subject to History of local government in Yorkshire....
, England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
, by an amateur palaeontologist. The preserved skeleton is displayed at Scarborough Rotunda Museum.

Many museums have plesiosaur specimens. Notable among them is the collection of plesiosaurs in the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road. The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
, London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
, which are on display in the marine reptiles gallery. Several historically important specimens can be found there, including the partial skeleton from Nottinghamshire reported by Stukely in 1719 which is the earliest written record of any marine reptile. Others specimens include those purchased from Thomas Hawkins in the early 19th century.

Specimens are on display in museums in the UK, including New Walk Museum
New Walk Museum

The New Walk Museum and Art Gallery is a museum on New Walk in Leicester, England, not far from the Leicester City Centre. Two dinosaur skeletons are permanently installed in the museum ? a cetiosaur found in Rutland, and a plesiosaur from Barrow upon Soar....
, Leicester
Leicester

Leicester is a city status in the United Kingdom and unitary authority area in the East Midlands of England. It is the county town of Leicestershire....
, The Yorkshire Museum, The Sedgwick Museum
Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences

The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, opened in 1904, is the geology museum of the University of Cambridge in England. The Sedgwick has a collection of more than 1 million Rock , Mineral and Fossil....
 in Cambridge
Cambridge

The city status in the United Kingdom of Cambridge is a College town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies about 50 miles north of London....
, Manchester Museum
Manchester Museum

The Manchester Museum is owned by the University of Manchester. It is one of the top university museums in the United Kingdom. Sitting at the heart of the University's Gothic Revival architecture buildings, it provides access to about six million items from every continent of the globe....
, Warwick Museum, Bristol Museum
Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery

The Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery is a large museum and art gallery in Bristol, England. It is run by the Bristol City Council with no entrance fee....
 and the Dorset Museum. A specimen was put on display in Lincoln Museum (now The Collection
The Collection (Lincolnshire)

The Collection is the county museum and gallery for Lincolnshire in England. It is an amalgamation of the Usher Gallery and the City and County Museum in such a way that they can work more effectively together than hitherto....
) in 2005. Peterborough
Peterborough

Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of as of June 2006. For ceremonial counties of England purposes it is in the Counties of England of Cambridgeshire....
 Museum holds an excellent collection of plesiosaur material from the Oxford Clay
Oxford Clay

Oxford Clay is a Jurassic marine sedimentary rock underlying much of South East England, from as far west as Dorset and as far north as Yorkshire....
 brick pits in the area. The most complete known specimen of the long-necked plesiosaur Cryptoclidus
Cryptoclidus

Cryptoclidus was a genus of plesiosaur from the Middle Jurassic Period of England....
, excavated in the 1980s can be seen there.

Description

Plesiosaurs had a broad body and a short tail
Tail

The tail is the section at the rear end of an animal's body; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammals and birds....
. They retained their ancestral two pairs of limbs, which evolved into large flipper
Flipper (anatomy)

A flipper is typically flat Limb evolved for movement through water. Various creatures have evolved flippers, for example most fish , as well as certain mammals , reptiles , and birds ....
s. Plesiosaurs evolved from earlier, similar forms such as pistosaurs
Pistosaurus

Pistosaurus longaevus is an extinct genus of aquatic sauropterygian reptile closely related to plesiosaurs. It was about 3 m long....
 or very early, longer-necked pliosaur
Pliosaur

The Pliosaurs were Marine reptiles from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Period . They originally included members of the family Pliosauridae, of the Order Plesiosauria, but several other genera and families are now also included; the number and details of which vary according to the classification used....
s. There are a number of families
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
 of plesiosaurs, which retain the same general appearance and are distinguished by various specific details. These include the Plesiosauridae, unspecialised types which are limited to the Early Jurassic
Early Jurassic

The Early Jurassic epoch is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event and ends at the start of the Middle Jurassic ....
 period; Cryptoclididae
Cryptoclididae

Cryptoclididae is a family of medium size plesiosaurs from the Middle Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous....
, (e.g. Cryptoclidus
Cryptoclidus

Cryptoclidus was a genus of plesiosaur from the Middle Jurassic Period of England....
), with a medium-long neck and somewhat stocky build; Elasmosauridae
Elasmosauridae

Elasmosauridae was the family of plesiosaurs. They had the longest necks of the plesiosaurs and survived from the Early Jurassic to the end of the Cretaceous....
, with very long, inflexible necks and tiny heads; and the Cimoliasauridae
Cimoliasauridae

The Cimoliasauridae are a poorly known family of plesiosaurs from the Jurassic and Cretaceous. They were characterised by a relatively larger head and shorter neck than the Plesiosauridae and Elasmosauridae....
, a poorly known group of small Cretaceous forms. According to traditional classifications, all plesiosaurs have a small head and long neck but, in recent classifications, one short-necked and large-headed Cretaceous group, the Polycotylidae
Polycotylidae

Polycotylidae is a family of plesiosaurs from the Cretaceous, a sister group to the elasmosauridae.With their short necks and large elongated heads, they resemble the pliosaurs, but closer phylogenetical studies indicate that they share many common features with the plesiosauridae and elasmosauridae....
, are included under the Plesiosauroidea, rather than under the traditional Pliosauroidea. Size of different plesiosaurs varied significantly, with an estimated length of Trinacromerum
Trinacromerum

Trinacromerum is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile belonging to the plesiosaur suborder. It lived during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Kansas....
 being 3 meters and Mauisaurus
Mauisaurus

Mauisaurus was a genus of plesiosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period around 65 million years ago in what is now New Zealand. It was the largest plesiosaur, and perhaps the largest marine reptile in New Zealand waters at the time....
 growing to 20 meters.

Behaviour

Plesiosaur Paddle C
Unlike their pliosaurian cousins, plesiosaurs (with the exception of the Polycotylidae) were probably slow swimmers . It is likely that they cruised slowly below the surface of the water, using their long flexible neck to move their head into position to snap up unwary fish or cephalopods. Their four-flippered swimming adaptation may have given them exceptional maneuverability, so that they could swiftly rotate their bodies as an aid to catching prey.

Contrary to many reconstructions of plesiosaurs, it would have been impossible for them to lift their head and long neck above the surface, in the 'swan
Swan

Swans are birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes goose and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini....
-like' pose that is often shown . Even if they had been able to bend their necks upward to that degree (which they could not), gravity would have tipped their body forward and kept most of the heavy neck in the water.

Taxonomy

The classification of plesiosaurs has varied; the following represents one version (see O'Keefe 2001)
  • Superorder SAUROPTERYGIA
    Sauropterygia

    Sauropterygia is a group of very successful aquatic reptiles that flourished during the Mesozoic before they became extinct. They are united by a radical adaptation of their shoulder, designed to support powerful flipper strokes....
    • Order PLESIOSAURIA
      Plesiosauria

      Plesiosauria are an Order of Mesozoic marine reptiles. They first appeared in the middle Triassic Period and became especially common during the Jurassic Period, thriving until the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous Period....
      • Suborder Pliosaur
        Pliosaur

        The Pliosaurs were Marine reptiles from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Period . They originally included members of the family Pliosauridae, of the Order Plesiosauria, but several other genera and families are now also included; the number and details of which vary according to the classification used....
        oidea
      • Suborder Plesiosauroidea(Gray, 1825) Welles, 1943 sensu O'Keefe, 2001
        • Plesiopterys
          Plesiopterys

          is an extinct genus of plesiosaur.See also* List of plesiosaursReferences...
           O'Keefe, 2004
        • Family Plesiosauridae
          Plesiosaurus

          Plesiosaurus was a large , marine sauropterygian reptile that lived during the early part of the Jurassic Period, and is known by nearly complete skeletons from the Lias of England and Germany....
           Gray, 1825 sensu O'Keefe, 2001
          • Attenborosaurus
            Attenborosaurus

            Attenborosaurus is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the Early Jurassic of Dorset, England. The type species is A. conybeari....
             Bakker, 1993
          • Plesiosaurus
            Plesiosaurus

            Plesiosaurus was a large , marine sauropterygian reptile that lived during the early part of the Jurassic Period, and is known by nearly complete skeletons from the Lias of England and Germany....
             De la Beche & Conybeare, 1821
        • (Unranked) Euplesiosauria O'Keefe, 2001
          • ? Sthenarosaurus
            Sthenarosaurus

            is an extinct genus of plesiosaur.See also* List of plesiosaursReferences...
             Watson, 1911 (nomen dubium)
          • ? Eretmosaurus
            Eretmosaurus

            Eretmosaurus is an extinct genus of plesiosaur.See also* List of plesiosaurs...
             Seeley, 1874
          • ? Leurospondylus
            Leurospondylus

            Leurospondylus is a genus of plesiosaur whose family is not known for certain, but is thought to be Plesiosauridae....
             Brown, 1913
          • ? Nichollsia
            Nichollsia (plesiosaur)

            Nichollsia is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the Early Cretaceous Boreal Sea of North America. The type species is N. borealis, found in early Albian deposits of Alberta, Canada....
             Druckenmiller & Russell, 2008
          • Superfamily Cryptoclidoidea Williston, 1925 sensu O'Keefe, 2001
            • Family Cryptoclididae
              Cryptoclididae

              Cryptoclididae is a family of medium size plesiosaurs from the Middle Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous....
               Williston, 1925 sensu O'Keefe, 2001
              • ? Tatenectes
                Tatenectes

                is an extinct genus of plesiosaur.See also* List of plesiosaursReferences...
                 O’Keefe & Wahl, 2003
              • ? Colymbosaurus
                Colymbosaurus

                Colymbosaurus is a genus of England plesiosaur described in 1874 by Seeley. The only bones found include 74 vertebrae and fins. Theory has it that this may be the missing body of Kimmerosaurus, which would make this a cryptoclid instead of an elasmosaurid....
                 Seeley, 1874
              • Cryptocleidus Seeley, 1892
              • Muraenosaurus
                Muraenosaurus

                Muraenosaurus is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile. It lived in the Middle Jurassic of Europe, growing to 8 metres long. Half of its length was its neck, which consisted of 44 vertebrae; in addition its skull was small....
                 Seeley, 1874
              • Pantosaurus
                Pantosaurus

                Pantosaurus is an extinction genus of plesiosaur from the Late Jurassic of what is now Wyoming. It lived in what used to be the Sundance Sea....
                 Marsh, 1891
              • Vinialesaurus
                Vinialesaurus

                Vinialesaurus is an extinction genus of plesiosaur from the Late Jurassic of what is now Cuba. The type species is Vinialesaurus caroli, first described as Cryptocleidus caroli by De la Torre and Rojas in 1949, and redescribed by Gasparini, Bardet and Iturralde in 2002....
                 Gasparini, Bardet & Iturralde-Vinent, 2002
            • (Unranked) Tricleidia O'Keefe, 2001
              • Family Tricledidae Nova
                • Tricleidus
                  Tricleidus

                  is an extinct genus of plesiosaur.See also* List of plesiosaursReferences...
                   Andrews, 1909
              • Family Cimoliasauridae
                Cimoliasauridae

                The Cimoliasauridae are a poorly known family of plesiosaurs from the Jurassic and Cretaceous. They were characterised by a relatively larger head and shorter neck than the Plesiosauridae and Elasmosauridae....
                 Delair, 1959 sensu O'Keefe, 2001
                • ? Aristonectes
                  Aristonectes

                  Aristonectes is an extinction genus of plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous of what is now South America and Antarctica. The type species is Aristonectes parvidens, first named by Cabrera in 1941....
                   Cabrea, 1941
                • Kaiwhekea
                  Kaiwhekea

                  Kaiwhekea is an extinction genus of plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous of what is now New Zealand. The type species, Kaiwhekea katiki, was first described by Arthur Cruickshank and Ewan Fordyce in 2002....
                   Cruickshank & Fordyce, 2002
                • Kimmerosaurus
                  Kimmerosaurus

                  Kimmerosaurus is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the family Cimoliasauridae....
                   Brown, 1981
                • Cimoliasaurus
                  Cimoliasaurus

                  Cimoliasaurus was a plesiosaur that lived in the Early Cretaceous to the Late Cretaceous in New Jersey, New Zealand, England, and France. It grew from 13 to 25 ft long....
                   Leidy, 1851 (nomen dubium)
              • Family Polycotylidae
                Polycotylidae

                Polycotylidae is a family of plesiosaurs from the Cretaceous, a sister group to the elasmosauridae.With their short necks and large elongated heads, they resemble the pliosaurs, but closer phylogenetical studies indicate that they share many common features with the plesiosauridae and elasmosauridae....
                 Williston, 1909 sensu O'Keefe, 2001
                • Dolichorhynchops
                  Dolichorhynchops

                  'Dolichorhynchops' is a genus of Polycotylidae plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous of North America, containing two species, D. osborni and D....
                   Willison, 1903
                • ? Edgarosaurus
                  Edgarosaurus

                  Edgarosaurus is a genus of Polycotylidae plesiosaur, containing one species, E. muddi. The type specimen was found in Early Cretaceous rocks in the state of Montana in the USA....
                   Druckenmiller, 2002
                • ? Georgiasaurus
                  Georgiasaurus

                  is an extinct genus of plesiosaur.See also* List of plesiosaursReferences...
                   Otschev, 1978
                • Manemergus
                  Manemergus

                  'Manemergus' is a genus of Polycotylidae plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Morocco. Manemergus was described in 2005 and contains only one species, M....
                   Buchy, Metayer, & Frey, 2005
                • Polycotylus
                  Polycotylus

                  Polycotylus is an extinct marine reptile, a plesiosaur of the suborder Plesiosauroidea. The type species is P.latippinis. Nine other species have been identified....
                   Cope, 1869
                • Sulcusuchus
                  Sulcusuchus

                  Sulcusuchus is a genus of polycotylidae plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina....
                   Gasparini & Spalletti, 1990
                • Thililua
                  Thililua

                  Thililua is a genus of Polycotylidae plesiosaur, containing one species, T. longicollis. The name Thililua is derived from that of an ancient aquatic god from local berber people mythology; longicollis refers to the animal's long neck....
                   Bardet, Pereda Suberbiola & Jalil, 2003
                • Trinacromerum
                  Trinacromerum

                  Trinacromerum is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile belonging to the plesiosaur suborder. It lived during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Kansas....
                   Cragin, 1888
              • Family Elasmosauridae
                Elasmosauridae

                Elasmosauridae was the family of plesiosaurs. They had the longest necks of the plesiosaurs and survived from the Early Jurassic to the end of the Cretaceous....
                 Cope, 1869 sensu Bardet, Godefroit & Sciau, 1999
                • Microcleidus
                  Microcleidus

                  Microcleidus is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile belonging to the plesiosaur suborder. It was about the size of a whale.Species include: Microcleidus homalospondylus and Microcleidus macropterus ....
                   Watson, 1911
                • ? Morenosaurus
                  Morenosaurus

                  Morenosaurus is an extinction genus of plesiosaur from the Cretaceous of what is now California. The type species is Morenosaurus stocki, first named by Welles in 1943, in honor of Dr....
                   Welles, 1943
                • Occitanosaurus
                  Occitanosaurus

                  Occitanosaurus is an extinction genus of plesiosaur from the Early Jurassic of what is now France. The type species is Occitanosaurus tournemirensis , first named by Sciau et al. in 1990....
                   Bardet, Godefroit & Sciau, 1999
              • Family Elasmosauridae
                Elasmosauridae

                Elasmosauridae was the family of plesiosaurs. They had the longest necks of the plesiosaurs and survived from the Early Jurassic to the end of the Cretaceous....
                 Cope, 1869 sensu O'Keefe, 2001
                • ? Aphrosaurus
                  Aphrosaurus

                  Aphrosaurus is an extinction genus of plesiosaur from the Mesozoic. The type species is Aphrosaurus furlongi, named by Welles in 1943....
                   Welles, 1943
                • Brancasaurus
                  Brancasaurus

                  Brancasaurus is an extinction genus of plesiosaur from the Early Cretaceous of what is now Germany. The type species is Brancasaurus brancai, first named by Wegner in 1914 in honor of German paleontology Wilhelm von Branca....
                   Wegner, 1914
                • Callawayasaurus
                  Callawayasaurus

                  Callawayasaurus is a genus of plesiosaur from the family Elasmosauridae. When the first Callawayasaurus fossil was first discovered by Samuel Paul Welles in 1962, he described it as Alzadasaurus colombiensis before it was moved into its current genus by Kenneth Carpenter in 1999....
                   Carpenter, 1999
                • Elasmosaurus
                  Elasmosaurus

                  Elasmosaurus Greek language e?as???/elasmos = thin plate + sa????/sauros = lizard) is a genus of plesiosaur with an extremely long neck that lived in the Late Cretaceous....
                   Cope, 1869
                • ? Fresnosaurus
                  Fresnosaurus

                  Fresnosaurus is an extinction genus of plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous of what is now California. The type species is Fresnosaurus drescheri, first described by Welles in 1943....
                   Welles, 1943
                • ? Futabasaurus
                  Futabasaurus

                  Futabasaurus is a genus of plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Fukushima, Japan. Described and named in 2006, it was assigned to the family Elasmosauridae....
                   Sato, Hasegawa & Manabe, 2006
                • ? Goniosaurus
                  Goniosaurus

                  is an extinct genus of plesiosaur.See also* List of plesiosaursReferences...
                   Meyer, 1860
                • ? Hydrotherosaurus
                  Hydrotherosaurus

                  Hydrotherosaurus is an extinct genus of elasmosauridae plesiosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Fresno County, California, measuring up to 13 m in length....
                   Welles, 1943
                • ? Hydralmosaurus
                  Hydralmosaurus

                  is an extinct genus of plesiosaur.See also* List of plesiosaursReferences...
                   Welles, 1943
                • Libonectes
                  Libonectes

                  Libonectes is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile belonging to the plesiosaur order.The 7-14 m long creature was very similar to the related Elasmosaurus....
                   Carpenter, 1997
                • ? Mauisaurus
                  Mauisaurus

                  Mauisaurus was a genus of plesiosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period around 65 million years ago in what is now New Zealand. It was the largest plesiosaur, and perhaps the largest marine reptile in New Zealand waters at the time....
                   Hector, 1874
                • ? Ogmodirus
                  Ogmodirus

                  Ogmodirus is an extinct genus of plesiosaur with an extremely long neck that lived in the Cretaceous. It may be member of the Elasmosauridae, a group of marine animals related to Elasmosaurus, but the condition of the fossils discovered to date means the genus is nomen dubium....
                   Williston & Moodie, 1913 (nomen dubium)
                • ? Orophosaurus
                  Orophosaurus

                  is an extinct genus of plesiosaur.See also* List of plesiosaursReferences...
                   Cope, 1887 (nomen dubium)
                • ? Piptomerus
                  Piptomerus

                  is an extinct genus of plesiosaur.See also* List of plesiosaursReferences...
                   Cope, 1887 (nomen vanum)
                • Styxosaurus
                  Styxosaurus

                  Styxosaurus is a genus of plesiosaur of the Family Elasmosauridae. Styxosaurus lived during the Santonian and Campanian Faunal stage of the Cretaceous Period ....
                   Welles, 1943
                • ? Terminonatator
                  Terminonatator

                  Terminonatator is a genus of elasmosauridae plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is known from a skull and partial skeleton from a young adult, found in the Campanian-age Bearpaw Formation near Notukeu Creek in Ponteix....
                   Sato, 2003
                • ? Thalassomedon Welles, 1943
                • ? Tuarangisaurus
                  Tuarangisaurus

                  Tuarangisaurus is a genus of extinction elasmosaur discovered in New Zealand and described by Wiffen & Moisley in 1986, known from a skull and some vertebrae, and some attributed postcranial remains of juveniles....
                   Wiffen & Moisley, 1986
                • ? Woolungasaurus
                  Woolungasaurus

                  Woolungasaurus glendowerensis was a plesiosaur, an extinct marine reptile, of the family Elasmosauridae. The type species is known from a partial skeleton unearthed from the Wallumbilla Formation of the Richmond District, Queensland....
                   Persson, 1960


In popular culture

The plesiosaur appears in a number of children's books and several film
Film

Film encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the film industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects....
s, including in Jules Verne
Jules Verne

Jules Gabriel Verne was a France author who helped pioneer the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Journey to the Center of the Earth , From the Earth to the Moon , Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , and Around the World in Eighty Days ....
's novel Journey to the Center of the Earth
Journey to the Center of the Earth

A Journey to the Centre of the Earth , also translated as A Journey to the Interior of the Earth, is a classic 1864 science fiction novel by Jules Verne....
. However, in Verne's story it is described as being much larger than they were in reality, and shown as having a shell like a turtle
Turtle

Turtles are reptiles of the Order Testudines , most of whose body is shielded by a special bone or cartilage animal shell developed from their ribs....
. In the bizarre 1899 short story "The Monster of Lake LaMetrie", a man's brain was put into the body of a plesiosaur.

Plesiosaurs have appeared in films about lake monster
Lake monster

Lake monster or loch monster is the name given to large unknown animals which have reportedly been sighted in, and/or are believed to dwell in fresh waters, although their existence has never been confirmed scientifically....
s, including Magic in the Water
Magic in the Water

Magic in the Water is a 1995 family film directed by Rick Stevenson and starring Mark Harmon and Joshua Jackson. It is about a fictional lake monster in British Columbia named Orky....
 (1995), and movies about the Loch Ness Monster
Loch Ness Monster

The Loch Ness Monster is a creature alleged to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, though its description varies from one account to the next....
, such as Loch Ness
Loch Ness (film)

Loch Ness is a 1996 family drama film starring Ted Danson and Joely Richardson....
 (1996). In both films, the creature primarily serves as a symbol
Symbol

A symbol is something such as an entity, picture, written word, sound, or particular mark that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention....
 of a lost, child-like sense of wonder.

Alleged living plesiosaurs

Modern legends of aquatic monsters, such as the Loch Ness Monster
Loch Ness Monster

The Loch Ness Monster is a creature alleged to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, though its description varies from one account to the next....
, are sometimes explained as sightings of extant relict populations of plesiosaurs. While knowledgeable researchers consider this to be unlikely or impossible, it has become a popular concept in cryptozoology
Cryptozoology

Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience focused on the search for animals which are considered to be fictional or otherwise nonexistent by mainstream biology....
.

Beached carcasses that prove controversial or hard to identify, a phenomenon known as globster
Globster

A globster, or blob, is an unidentified organic matter that washes up on the shoreline of an ocean or other body of water. The term was coined by Ivan T....
s, sometimes fuel speculation about living plesiosaurs. The 1977 discovery of a carcass with flippers and what appeared to be a long neck and head by the Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
ese fishing
Fishing

Fishing is the activity of catching fish. Fishing techniques include Fish net, Fish trap, Spearfishing, angling and Gathering seafood by hand. The term fishing may be applied to catching other aquatic animals such as different types of shellfish, squid, octopus, turtles, Edible frog and some edible marine invertebrates....
 trawler Zuiyo Maru
Zuiyo Maru

was a Japanese fishing trawler that caught a creature initially claimed to be a prehistoric plesiosaur off the coast of New Zealand in 1977. Although several Japanese scientists insisted it was "not a fish, whale, or any other mammal" , analysis later indicated it was most likely the carcass of a basking shark by comparing the number of sets of...
, off the coast of New Zealand
New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
, created a plesiosaur craze in Japan. However, the consensus amongst scientists is that it was the decayed remains of a basking shark
Basking shark

The basking shark, Cetorhinus maximus, is the second largest living fish, after the whale shark. It is a cosmopolitan species ? it is found in all the world's temperate oceans....
.

See also

  • Australian plesiosaurs
    Australian plesiosaurs

    The following is a list of members of the Plesiosauria that have been identified in Australia.References...


Literature


See also and scans of on the website.

External links

  • . Richard Forrest.
  • . Adam Stuart Smith.
  • . Mike Everhart.
  • . Mike Everhart.
  • . Mike Everhart and other contributors.
  • "". Allan Hall and Mark Henderson. Times Online, December 30, 2002. (Monster of Aramberri)
  • "". BBC News, July 16, 2003. (Loch Ness, possible hoax)
  • "". Glen J. Kuban.
  • .
  • , from the National Science Foundation, December 6, 2006.