Elasmosaurus
Elasmosaurus was a 46 foot long swimming reptile that lived in the North American Inland Sea. It was a plesiosaur.
| Elasmosaurus Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous
80.5 mya | |
|---|---|
| |
| Elasmosaurus platyurus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Class: | |
| Superorder: | |
| Order: | |
| Family: | |
| Genus: | †Elasmosaurus Cope, 1868
|
It was first discovered in 1868 by a scientist named Edward Drinker Cope who accidentally put the head on the tail. It had 71 cervical vertebrae.[1]
It was suggested by D.M.S. Watson that their method was as surface swimmers, mostly eating with their head above water, darting down to snatch smaller fish which were feeding on plankton.[2][3][4] It is hard to see the benefit of a long neck under water. Aquatic mammals operating under water all have a streamlined torpedo-shape, as did pliosaurs and ichthyosaurs. All the longer-necked families were, from the setting of the teeth and jaws, eaters of small fish. The large number of neck vertebrae is probably linked to the modest degree of flexibility between adjacent vertebrae.
Elasmosaurus Media
Officers at Fort Wallace, Kansas, in 1867. Turner, who the same year discovered Elasmosaurus in the area, is second from left.
Back vertebrae of the holotype, 1869
Cope's 1869 figures of the now lost pectoral (left) and pelvic (right) girdles of the holotype; the generic name refers to these "plate" bones
Size comparison of the North American Upper Cretaceous elasmosaurid plesiosaur Elasmosaurus platyurus. Unknown regions have been restored after Albertonectes and Styxosaurus.
Reconstructed skull and neck, North American Museum of Ancient Life
Vertebra from the front part of the neck of the holotype specimen; "llr" stands for the "lateral longitudinal ridge" on the sides of the centrum
Vertebrae from the pectoral region of the holotype specimen
References
- ↑ Sachs S. 2005. Redescription of Elasmosaurus platyurus, Cope 1868 (Plesiosauria: Elasmosauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous (lower Campanian) of Kansas, U.S.A. Paludicola 5(3): 92-106.
- ↑ Watson D.M.S. 1951. Palaeontology and modern biology. Yale, CT.
- ↑ Watson D.M.S. 1958. Studies on fossil vertebrates. London.
- ↑ Alexander, R. McNeill 1989. Dynamics of dinosaurs and other extinct giants. Columbia N.Y. p137