NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Plesiosaur

Plesiosaurs (pronounced /ˈpliːsɪəˌsɔr/) (Greek: plesios meaning 'near' or 'close to' and sauros meaning 'lizard') were carnivorous aquatic (mostly marine) reptiles. After their discovery, they were somewhat fancifully said to have resembled "a snake threaded through the shell of a turtle", although they had no shell. The common name 'plesiosaur' is applied both to the 'true' plesiosaurs (Suborder Plesiosauroidea) and to the larger taxonomic rank of Plesiosauria, which includes both long-necked (elasmosaurs) and short-necked (polycotylid) forms. Short-necked, large-headed plesiosaurs are more properly called pliosaurs. There were many species of plesiosaurs and not all of them were as large as Liopleurodon, Kronosaurus or Elasmosaurus. Carnivorism redirects here. ... Reptilia redirects here. ... Families Cryptoclididae Elasmosauridae Plesiosauridae Pliosauridae Plesiosaurs (PLEE-see-oh-SORES) were large, carnivorous aquatic reptiles. ... Families Cryptoclididae Elasmosauridae Plesiosauridae Pliosauridae Plesiosaurs (PLEE-see-oh-SORES) were large, carnivorous aquatic reptiles. ... Species Sauvage, 1873 (type) (Seeley, 1869) (Novozhilov, 1948) (Phillips, 1871) Liopleurodon (IPA: /lioÊŠ.ËˆplÊŠ.É¹ÊŒ.dÉ‘n/, meaning smooth-sided teeth) is a genus of large, carnivorous marine reptiles belonging to the Pliosauroidea, the short-necked plesiosaur group. ... Species (type) ? Kronosaurus (pronounced Kroe-noe-sore-uss) was one of the sea reptiles known as pliosaurs â€” a member of the plesiosaur group, but in the Pliosauridae family, with the distinctive feature of a much shorter, thicker neck. ... Species Elasmosaurus (IPA pronunciation: ) meaning thin-plated lizard because it had platelike bones in its pelvic girdle (Greek elasmos = thin plate + sauros = lizard) is a plesiosaur with an extremely long neck that lived in the late Cretaceous. ...

Plesiosaurs (sensu Plesiosauroidea) appeared at the start of the Jurassic Period and thrived until the K-T extinction, at the end of the Cretaceous Period. While they were Mesozoic reptiles that lived at the same time as dinosaurs, they were not dinosaurs. The Jurassic Period is a major unit of the geologic timescale that extends from about 199. ... A geologic period is a subdivision of geologic time that divides an era into smaller timeframes. ... Badlands near Drumheller, Alberta where erosion has exposed the KT boundary. ... // The Cretaceous Period is one of the major divisions of the geologic timescale, reaching from the end of the Jurassic Period (i. ... The Mesozoic Era is one of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic eon. ... Orders Saurischia Sauropodomorpha Theropoda Ornithischia Dinosaurs are giant reptiles that dominated the terrestrial ecosystem for most of their 165-million year existence. ...

History of discovery

The first plesiosaur skeletons were found in England by Mary Anning, 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 (England) by someone fishing from the shore. This specimen, called the Collard specimen after its finder, will be on display in Taunton museum in 2007. Another, less complete skeleton was also found in 2002, in the cliffs at Filey, Yorkshire, England, by an amateur palaeontologist. The preserved skeleton will be displayed at Scarborough Rotunda Museum from 2007. Image File history File links Plesiosaur_anning. ... Image File history File links Plesiosaur_anning. ... Mary Anning (May 21, 1799 â€“ March 9, 1847) was an early British fossil collector and paleontologist. ... Mary Anning (May 21, 1799 â€“ March 9, 1847) was an early British fossil collector and paleontologist. ... This article is about the county of Somerset in England. ... For other uses, see Taunton (disambiguation). ... Statistics Population: 6560 Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: TA115807 Administration Borough: Scarborough Shire county: North Yorkshire Region: Yorkshire and the Humber Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: North Yorkshire Historic county: Yorkshire (East Riding) Services Police force: North Yorkshire Police Fire and rescue: North Yorkshire Ambulance... Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... This article is on the English seaside resort. ...

Many museums have plesiosaur specimens. Notable among them is the collection of plesiosaurs in the Natural History Museum, London, 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. For other similarly-named museums see Museum of Natural History. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...

Specimens are on display in museums in the UK, including New Walk Museum, Leicester, The Yorkshire Museum, The Sedgwick Museum in Cambridge, Manchester Museum, Warwick Museum, Bristol Museum and the Dorset Museum. A specimen was put on display in Lincoln Museum in 2005. Peterborough Museum holds an excellent collection of plesiosaur material from the Oxford Clay brick pits in the area. The most complete known specimen of the long-necked plesiosaur Cryptoclidus, excavated in the 1980s can be seen there. The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, opened in 1904, is the geology museum of the University of Cambridge in England. ... The museum building. ... Cryptoclidus (crip-TOE-clide-us) was a marine reptile of the plesiosaur family from the middle Jurassic period in England. ...

The museum building. ... This article is about the English city. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... A city-centre street in Frankfurt, Germany A residential street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA A street is a public thoroughfare in the built environment. ... This article is about the county of Somerset in England. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ...

Description

Plesiosaurs had a broad body and a short tail. They retained their ancestral two pairs of limbs, which evolved into large flippers. Plesiosaurs evolved from earlier, similar forms such as pistosaurs or very early, longer-necked pliosaurs. There are a number of families 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 period; Cryptoclididae, (e.g. Cryptoclidus), with a medium-long neck and somewhat stocky build; Elasmosauridae, with very long, inflexible necks and tiny heads; and the Cimoliasauridae, 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, are included under the Plesiosauroidea, rather than under the traditional Pliosauroidea. A scorpion tail The tail is the section at the rear end of an animals body; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. ... A flipper is a digitless, typically flat limb evolved for movement through water. ... Pistosaurus longaevus is an extinct genus of aquatic sauropterygian reptile belonging to the plesiosaur order. ... Families Cryptoclididae Elasmosauridae Plesiosauridae Pliosauridae Plesiosaurs (PLEE-see-oh-SORES) were large, carnivorous aquatic reptiles. ... The hierarchy of scientific classification In biological classification, family (Latin: familia, plural familiae) is a rank, or a taxon in that rank. ... Species Plesiosaurus (Greek: plesios, near to + sauros, lizard) was a large (about 3 to 5 meters long), 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. ... Massive cliffs in Zion Canyon consist of Lower Jurassic formations, including (from bottom to top): the Wingate Sandstone, the Kayenta Formation, and the massive Navajo Sandstone. ... Genera Cryptoclidus Kaiwhekea Kimmerosaurus Vinialesaurus Muraenosaurus Tricleidus Colymbosaurus Cryptoclididae is a family of medium size plesiosaurs from the Middle Jurassic to the late Cretaceous. ... Cryptoclidus (crip-TOE-clide-us) was a marine reptile of the plesiosaur family from the middle Jurassic period in England. ... Elasmosauridae was the taxonomic family of the most advanced plesiosaurs. ... Genera Aristonectes Cimoliasaurus Scanisaurus The Cimoliasauridae are a poorly known family of small and aberrant plesiosaurs from the Cretaceous. ... Genera Dolichorhynchops Edgarosaurus Polycotylus Thililua Tinacromerum Procotylus Georgiasaurus Ceraumasaurus Polycotylidae is a family of large plesiosaurs from Cretaceous, sister group to the elasmosauridae. ...

Behaviour

Unlike their pliosaurian cousins, plesiosaurs (with the exception of the Polycotylidae) were probably slow swimmers {Massare, 1988}. 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. Scelidosaurus reconstruction at the Centre Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre is based in the upstairs floor of a long-disused cement factory on the foreshore of Charmouth in Dorset, England. ... Orders Sepiida Sepiolida Spirulida Teuthida Octopoda Vampyromorphida Nautilida The Cephalopods (head-foot) are the mollusc class Cephalopoda characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, and a modification of the mollusc foot into the form of arms or tentacles. ...

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-like' pose that is often shown {Everhart, 2005; Henderson, 2006}. 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. For other uses, see Swan (disambiguation). ...

Taxonomy

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

Muraenosaurus (moray eel lizard) is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile belonging to the plesiosaur order. ... Groups ?Placodontia Pachypleurosauridae Nothosauridae Plesiosauria Sauropterygia (lizard flippers) is a group of very successful aquatic reptiles that flourished during the Age of the Dinosaurs before they became extinct. ... Families Cryptoclididae Elasmosauridae Plesiosauridae Pliosauridae Plesiosaurs (PLEE-see-oh-SORES) were large, carnivorous aquatic reptiles. ... Families Cryptoclididae Elasmosauridae Plesiosauridae Pliosauridae Plesiosaurs (PLEE-see-oh-SORES) were large, carnivorous aquatic reptiles. ... Species (type) ? (jr. ... Species (type) ? (jr. ... Genera Cryptoclidus Kaiwhekea Kimmerosaurus Vinialesaurus Muraenosaurus Tricleidus Colymbosaurus Cryptoclididae is a family of medium size plesiosaurs from the Middle Jurassic to the late Cretaceous. ... Muraenosaurus (moray eel lizard) is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile belonging to the plesiosaur order. ... Genera Aristonectes Cimoliasaurus Scanisaurus The Cimoliasauridae are a poorly known family of small and aberrant plesiosaurs from the Cretaceous. ... Genera Dolichorhynchops Edgarosaurus Polycotylus Thililua Tinacromerum Procotylus Georgiasaurus Ceraumasaurus Polycotylidae is a family of large plesiosaurs from Cretaceous, sister group to the elasmosauridae. ... Elasmosauridae was the taxonomic family of the most advanced plesiosaurs. ... Microcleidus is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile belonging to the plesiosaur suborder. ... Elasmosauridae was the taxonomic family of the most advanced plesiosaurs. ... Binomial name Futabasaurus suzukii Sato, Hagesawa & Manabe, 2006 Futabasaurus suzukii is the name of a plesiosaur that was described in 2006 by Soto, Hagesawa, and Manabe. ... Species Hydrotherosaurus (meaning water beast lizard) is an extinct genus of elasmosaurid plesiosaur from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Fresno County, California, measuring up to 13 m in length. ... Species Elasmosaurus (IPA pronunciation: ) meaning thin-plated lizard because it had platelike bones in its pelvic girdle (Greek elasmos = thin plate + sauros = lizard) is a plesiosaur with an extremely long neck that lived in the late Cretaceous. ...

In popular culture

The plesiosaur is popular among children and cryptozoologists, appearing in a number of children's books and several films, including an ichthyosaur in Jules Verne's novel Journey to the Center of the Earth. However, in Verne's story it is described as being much larger than it was in reality, and shown as having a shell like a turtle. In the bizarre 1899 short story "The Monster of Lake LaMetrie", a man's brain was put into the body of a plesiosaur. Cryptozoology is the study of rumored or mythological animals that are presumed to exist, but for which conclusive proof does not yet exist; or are generally considered extinct, but occasionally reported. ... Basic Characteristics There is some debate as to what constitutes childrens literature. ... This article is about motion pictures. ... Families Ichthyosauridae Leptonectidae Mixosauridae Ophthalmosauridae Shastasauridae Stenopterygiidae Teretocnemidae Ichthyosaurs (Greek for fish lizard - Î¹Ï‡Î¸Ï…Ï‚ meaning fish and ÏƒÎ±Ï…ÏÎ¿Ï‚ meaning lizard) were giant marine reptiles that resembled fish and dolphins. ... This article is about the French author. ... For other uses, see Journey to the Center of the Earth (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Turtle (disambiguation). ...

It has appeared in films about lake monsters, including Magic in the Water (1995), and movies about the Loch Ness Monster, such as Loch Ness (1996). In both films, the creature primarily serves as a symbol of a lost, child-like sense of wonder. The plesiosaur is also present in the Japanese Jaws-inspired movie Legend of the Dinosaurs (1983). In the 2007 movie The Water Horse, the creature "Crusoe" appears to resemble a plesiosaur. Lake monster or loch monster is the name given to large unknown animals which have purportedly been sighted in, and/or are believed to dwell in freshwaters, although their existence has never been confirmed scientifically. ... Magic in the Water is a movie about a girl named Ashley (played by Sarah Wayne) and her brother Joshua (played by Joshua Jackson) who are taken by their workaholic dad named Jack Black (played by Mark Harmon) to a lake in British Columbia where a fabled lake monster, much... For other uses, see Loch Ness Monster (disambiguation). ... Loch Ness is a 1996 drama/adventure film that stars Ted Danson and Joely Richardson. ... Jaws is a 1975 thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on Peter Benchleys best-selling novel inspired by the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916. ... The Waterhorse is a film due in 2007 directed by Jay Russell based on the screenplay by Robert Nelson Jacobs and the novel by Dick-King Smith. ...

Contrary to reports, the long-necked, sharp-toothed creature in the classic film King Kong (1933), which flips a raft full of rescuers on their way to save Fay Wray and then munches on the swimmers, is not a plesiosaur. Despite striking a profile in the mist very similar to the famous 'Surgeon's Photo' of the Loch Ness Monster, it then chases the routed heroes onto dry land, where it is clearly intended to be a sauropod, like Brontosaurus (now Apatosaurus). However, Kong later battles a serpent-like creature in a cave, which possesses four flippers and resembles a plesiosaur but acts more like some kind of giant snake. But it has been rumored to be a Tanystropheus, a long necked prehistoric reptile which swam in shallow water, catching fish, much like plesiosaurs. For other uses, see King Kong (disambiguation). ... Vina Fay Wray (September 15, 1907 â€“ August 8, 2004) was a Canadianâ€“American actress. ... Families Brachiosauridae Camarasauridae Cetiosauridae Diplodocidae Euhelopodidae Nemegtosauridae Titanosauridae Vulcanodontidae Sauropoda, the sauropods, are a suborder or infraorder of the saurischian (lizard-hipped) dinosaurs. ... Species Apatosaurus ajax Apatosaurus excelsus Apatosaurus louisae Apatosaurus (pronounced ) meaning deceptive lizard, because its chevron bones were like those of Mosasaurus (Greek apatelos or apatelios = deceptive + sauros = lizard), often mistakenly referred to as Brontosaurus, is a genus of sauropod dinosaurs that lived about 140 million years ago, during the Jurassic... Tanystropheus was a 6 metre (20 foot) long reptile that dated from the middle Triassic period. ...

In Steve Alten's novel The Trench, a climactic scene at the end has a Megalodon fighting with several deep sea reptiles, similar to pliosaurs, identified as Kronosaurus. Steve Alten (born August 21, 1959, Philadelphia) is an American science fiction author. ... lisa Belkova woz ehe! ... For the film, see Shark Attack 3: Megalodon. ...

Alleged living plesiosaurs

Lake or sea monster sightings are occasionally explained by cryptozoologists as plesiosaurs^{[citation needed]}. While there is no legitimate fossil evidence of plesiosaurs surviving past the K/T boundary, the discovery of real and even more ancient living fossils such as the coelacanth and of previously unknown but enormous deep-sea animals such as the giant squid, have fuelled imaginations. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... For the television series about extinct sea animals, see Sea Monsters. ... Lake monster or loch monster is the name given to large unknown animals which have purportedly been sighted in, and/or are believed to dwell in freshwaters, although their existence has never been confirmed scientifically. ... For other uses, see Loch Ness Monster (disambiguation). ... For the television series about extinct sea animals, see Sea Monsters. ... Cryptozoology (from Greek: ÎºÏÏ…Ï€Ï„ÏŒÏ‚, kryptÃ³s, hidden; Î¶á¿·Î¿Î½, zÃ´on, animal; and Î»ÏŒÎ³Î¿Ï‚, logos, knowledge or study â€“ zoology) is the search for animals hypothesized to exist, but for which conclusive proof is missing. ... Badlands near Drumheller, Alberta where erosion has exposed the KT boundary. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Families See text. ... This article is about the animal. ...

The 1977 discovery of a carcass with flippers and what appeared to be a long neck and head, by the Japanese fishing trawler Zuiyo Maru, off New Zealand, created a plesiosaur craze in Japan. Members of a blue-ribbon panel of eminent marine scientists in Japan reviewed the discovery. Professor Yoshinori Imaizumi, of the National Science Museum of Japan, said, "It's not a fish, whale, or any other mammal." However, the general consensus amongst scientists today is that it was a decayed basking shark. The long neck described may be attributed to the loss of the lower jaw (a favorite of scavengers).^[1] Fishermen in the harbor of Kochi, India. ... The Zuiya Maru was a a Japanese trawler that caught a creature initially claimed to be a prehistoric plesiosaur off the coast of New Zealand in 1977. ... Steam locomotive in front of the National Science Museum. ... Binomial name (Gunnerus, 1765) Range (in blue) The basking shark, Cetorhinus maximus, is the second largest fish, after the whale shark. ...

The Loch Ness Monster, and possibly eastern North America's Champ, have been reported to resemble a plesiosaur. Arguments against the plesiosaur theory include the fact that the lake is too cold for a cold-blooded animal to survive easily, that air-breathing animals like plesiosaurs would be easily spotted when they surface to breathe, that the lake is too small to support a breeding colony and that the loch itself formed only 10,000 years ago during the last ice age. For other uses, see Loch Ness Monster (disambiguation). ... Map of Lake Champlain Champ is the ultimate insult that can be given from a person from the younger generation to an elder. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The Wisconsin (in North America), Devensian (in the British Isles), Midlandian (in Ireland), WÃ¼rm (in the Alps), and Weichsel (in northern central Europe) glaciations are the most recent glaciations of the Pleistocene epoch, which ended around 10,000 BCE. The general glacial advance began about 70,000 BCE, and...

The National Museums of Scotland confirmed that vertebrae discovered on the shores of Loch Ness, in 2003, belong to a plesiosaur, but the fossils were deliberately planted (BBC News, July 16, 2003). The National Museums of Scotland are: The Royal Museum of Scotland - a general museum encompassing geology, archaeology, natural history, science, technology and art. ... A diagram of a thoracic vertebra. ... This article is about the body of water in Scotland. ... For other uses, see Fossil (disambiguation). ...

Beached carcasses that prove controversial or hard to identify, a phenomenon known as globsters, have fueled the debate about living plesiosaurs. It was reported in The Star (Malaysia) on April 8, 2006, that fishermen discovered bones resembling that of a Plesiosaur near Sabah, Malaysia. The creature was speculated to have died only a month before. A team of researchers from Universiti Malaysia Sabah investigated the specimen but the bones were later determined to be those of a whale. Carcass that washed ashore near St. ... The Star is the leading English-language newspaper in Malaysia. ... For other uses, see Sabah (disambiguation). ... Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) is a Malaysian public university located in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia and was established on November 24, 1994. ...

On November 2, 2006, Leslie Noè of the Sedgwick Museum in Cambridge, UK, announced research which casts further doubt on a plesiosaur inhabiting Loch Ness. While many sightings of the monster include reports of it lifting its head out of the water, including the Spurling photo, Noè's study of fossilized vertebrae of a Muraenosaurus concluded this articulation would not be possible. Instead, he found that the neck evolved to point downwards allowing the plesiosaur to feed on soft-shelled animals living on the sea floor, but the neck would be flexible while pointed downwards. ^[2] Muraenosaurus (moray eel lizard) is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile belonging to the plesiosaur order. ...

Another creature closely resembling a plesiosaur has been reported to exist in Lake Khaiyr in Eastern Siberia. However, due to the extreme remoteness of the location and the fear of volcanic activity, the lake is rarely visited by scientists or tourists and consequently there have been few sightings. Lake Khaiyr is a remote volcanic lake situated in the Yakutia region of eastern Siberia. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Siberia. ...

Contents

History of discovery

Description

Behaviour

Taxonomy

In popular culture

Alleged living plesiosaurs

See also

References

External links

Notes

Contents

History of discovery GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

Description

Behaviour

Taxonomy

In popular culture

Alleged living plesiosaurs

See also

References

External links

Notes

History of discovery