Genus Eoplesiosaurus Benson, Evans & Druckenmiller, 2012
Type species: Eoplesiosaurus antiquior Benson, Evans & Druckenmiller, 2012
Diagnosis: Proportionally long-necked plesiosaurian (ratio of neck:trunk length>1.2) with at least 38 cervical vertebrae and one autapomorphy: small, conical lateral projections on the bases of the anterior cervical prezygapophyses (from Benson et al. 2012).
Distribution: Lower Jurassic, Hettangian, Europe (United Kingdom).
Eoplesiosaurus antiquior Benson, Evans & Druckenmiller, 2012
Holotype: TTNCM 8348, almost complete and articulated postcranial skeleton.
Stratum typicum: Blue Lias Formation, Pre-planorbis beds, earliest Hettangian, Lower Jurassic.
Locus typicus: Watchet, Somerset, England.
Diagnosis: As for the genus.
Comments: Eoplesiosaurus antiquior is the earliest currently known representative of the Plesiosauroidea and one of the earliest Jurassic plesiosaurs. Notably, Eoplesiosaurus already exhibits a remarkably high cervical count, with at least 38 cervical vertebrae, of which 36 are preserved in an articulated series with the atlas-axis complex being missing. This exceeds the cervical vertebral count in most other early-diverging plesiosauroids.
Systematic palaeontology (sensu Benson & Druckenmiller 2014)
Plesiosauria de Blainville, 1835
Plesiosauroidea Gray, 1825
Institutional abbreviations
TTNCM – Somerset County Museum, Taunton, United Kingdom
Image courtesy
The images are taken from the publication by Benson et al. (2012) and are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license.
Cited literature
