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- Title
a new elasmosaurid plesiosaur from the Lower Jurassic of southern France.
- Authors
Bardet, Nathalie; Godefroit, Pascal; Sciau, Jacques
- Abstract
<E1>Plesiosaurus tournemirensis</E1>Sciau, Crochet and Mattei, based on a nearly complete skeleton with skull from the Upper Toarcian (Lower Jurassic) of Tournemire (Aveyron Department, southern France), is here redescribed and reinterpreted. Comparisons with other plesiosaurs indicate that it belongs to a new genus,<E1>Occitanosaurus</E1>.<E1>O. tournemirensis</E1>is characterized mainly by its spatulate premaxillae with short facial process, very high postorbital broadly contacting posterior ramus of the maxilla, trapezoidal jugal excluded from orbital margin, orbit diagonally oriented, temporal fenestra with a sigmoidal anterior margin, 43 cervical vertebrae, powerful interclavicle-clavicle complex and coracoids with a pointed protuberance on lateral border and expanded posterolateral cornua. Cranial and cervical vertebra features show that this new genus is undoubtedly a representative of the Elasmosauridae. A preliminary cladistic analysis of long-necked plesiosaurs reveals that, within Elasmosauridae,<E1>Occitanosaurus</E1>is a close relative of<E1>Microcleidus</E1>and<E1>Muraenosaurus</E1>.
- Subjects
PLESIOSAURUS; FOSSIL marine reptiles
- Publication
Palaeontology, 1999, Vol 42, Issue 5, p927
- ISSN
0031-0239
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/1475-4983.00103