Seeleyosaurus
Seeleyosaurus Temporal range: Early Jurassic,
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Cast of Seeleyosaurus guilelmiimperatoris fossil with reconstructed parts based on the holotype | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
Order: | †Plesiosauria |
Family: | †Microcleididae |
Genus: | †Seeleyosaurus White, 1940 |
Type species | |
†Seeleyosaurus guilelmiimperatoris (Dames, 1895)
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Synonyms | |
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Seeleyosaurus is an extinct genus of plesiosaur that was initially placed within the genus Plesiosaurus in 1895[1] and was given its own genus in 1940.[2] Two species were known: the type, S. guilelmiimperatoris, and the now obsolete species S. holzmadensis,[2] which has since been absorbed into S. guilelmiimperatoris. The holotype was MB.R.1992, a large almost complete skeleton from the Upper Lias (Toarcian) Lias Group Formations of Württemberg, Germany. There seems to be the impression of a rhomboidal flap of skin in a vertical plane; if so, many plesiosaurs may have been equipped in this way.[3] The holotype was destroyed in 1945 (WWII) and only a cast exists today. A second specimen (SMNS 12039), preserved in 3D, has survived until today. It was once the holotype of the now obsolete species S. holzmadensis.[2]
Classification
The following cladogram follows an analysis by Ketchum & Benson, 2011.[3]
Gallery
Holotype of S. guilelmiimperatoris in 1895[1]
Seeleyosaurus (left) and Thaumatosaurus, now Meyerasaurus (right) as depicted in Water reptiles of the past and present (1914)
See also
References
- ^ a b Dames, H. W. (1895). Die Plesiosaurier der süddeutschen Liasformation. Abhandlungen der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin 2:1-83
- ^ a b c White, T. E. (1940). Holotype of Plesiosaurus longirostris Blake and classification of the plesiosaurs. Journal of Paleontology 14(5):451-467
- ^ a b Ketchum, Hillary F.; Benson, Roger B.J. (2011). "A new pliosaurid (Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria) from the Oxford Clay Formation (Middle Jurassic, Callovian) of England: evidence for a gracile, longirostrine grade of Early-Middle Jurassic pliosaurids". Special Papers in Palaeontology. 86: 109–129.
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