Lindwurmia thiuda Vincent & Storrs, 2019
Systematics: Sauropterygia Plesiosauria
Size: 2.5 m long
Type Horizon and Locality: Early Jurassic, Psiloceras johnstoni ammonite Subzone (Lower Hettangian), Halberstadt, Germany
Type Specimen: SMH uncatalogued, incomplete skeleton
This moderate size plesiosaur is one of the oldest and one of the most primitive. Phylogenetic analysis retrieves it either as a rhomaleosaurid or something even more basal as a sister taxon to Anningasaura. It is known from a single incomplete skeleton comprised of the anterior part of the jaws, 69 vertebrae, partial pectoral and pelvic girdles and partial right fore and hind limbs. The generic name refers to the Lindwurm, a mythical bipedal snake-like dragon of German mythology.
May 25, 2019
References:
Vincent, P., & Storrs, G. W. (2019). Lindwurmia, a new genus of Plesiosauria (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the earliest Jurassic of Halberstadt, northwest Germany. The Science of Nature, 106(1-2), 5.
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