Microcleidus
Template:Short description Template:Automatic taxobox
Microcleidus is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile belonging to the Plesiosauroidea. The species has 40 neck vertebrae and a short tail of 28 vertebrae. Fossils of the genus have been found in France, the Posidonia Shale in Germany and Luxembourg, and the Alum Shale Formation of England.
Description
The type species, M. homalospondylus, was the largest, measuring Template:Cvt long and weighing Template:Cvt. Other species were smaller: M. tournemirensis was about Template:Cvt long and weighed Template:Cvt, and M. melusinae was about Template:Cvt long and weighed Template:Cvt.[1][2][3]
Classification
Species include: Microcleidus homalospondylus (Owen 1865) and Microcleidus macropterus (Seeley 1865).
Occitanosaurus tournemirensis (originally "Plesiosaurus" tournemirensis), was named by Sciau et al. in 1990, based on a nearly complete skeleton of an animal approximately 4 meters (13 ft) long.[1] It was later found to be a species of Microcleidus.
The following cladogram follows an analysis by Ketchum & Benson, 2011.[4]
See also
References
Bibliography
- Bardet, Nathalie; Fernandez, Marta; Garcia-Ramos, Jose Carlos; Superbiola, Xabier Pereda; Pinuela, Laura; Ruiz-Omenaca, Jose Ignacio; and Vincent, Peggy (2008). "A juvenile plesiosaur from the Pliensbackian (Lower Jurassic) of Asturias, Spain". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28(1): 258–263
- [1] Plesiosaur.com 13 Oct 2006
- [2]Template:Dead link Palæos.com 13 Oct 2006
- [3]
Template:Sauropterygia Template:Taxonbar
- ↑ a b Ketchum HF, Benson RBJ. Global interrelationships of Plesiosaur (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) and the pivotal role of taxon sampling in determining the outcome of phylogenetic analyses. Biological Reviews
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