Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus Conybeare, 1824
Systematics: Sauropterygia Plesiosauria Plesiosauroidea Plesiosauridae
Size: 3.5 m
Type Horizon and Locality: Early Jurassic, Black Ven Marl Member, Charmouth Mudstone Formation, Lias Group (Late Sinemurian) Lyme Regis, England, UK
Type Specimen: BMNH 22656, almost complete articulated skeleton
This first fossil, an almost complete skeleton, of this marine reptile was found by Mary Anning in 1823 in Dorset, near Lyme Regis. Plesiosaurus is the archetypal small-headed long-necked plesiosaur, known from multiple specimens from the Lias of southern England. The genus Plesiosaurus has been a wastebasket taxon, but only one species, P. dolichodeirus is recognized today.
April 4, 2020
References:
Conybeare, W. D. (1824). On the Discovery of an almost perfect Skeleton of the Plesiosaurus. Transactions of the Geological Society of London, 2(2), 381-389.
Vincent, P., & Taquet, P. (2010). A plesiosaur specimen from the Lias of Lyme Regis: the second ever discovered plesiosaur by Mary Anning. Geodiversitas, 32(3), 377-390.
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