Wealden pliosauromorph from Germany

3.10.2017

Our paper on a pliosauromorph plesiosaurian jaw from the ‘Wealden facies’ deposits of Germany has been released.

We describe an incomplete plesiosaurian mandible from the non-marine ‘Wealden facies’ deposits of the Bückeberg Group. The specimen was found in the 1960s in a quarry near Kathrinhagen in Lower Saxony (northwestern Germany). It was, for many years, on display at the Geological Museum of the University of Cologne, Germany, and had initially been identified as a crocodilian jaw. Our investigation showed that it in fact is part of a plesiosaurian mandible that resembles the lower jaws of rhomaleosaurids and the pliosaurid Simolestes.

The specimen will soon be on display again at the Geomuseum in Cologne.

Co-authors of the study are Jahn J. Hornung, Jens Lallensack and Benjamin Kear.