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Preliminary description and phylogenetic position of a new plesiosaur (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) from the Toarcian of Holzmaden, Germany

F. Robin O'Keefe
Preliminary description and phylogenetic position of a new plesiosaur (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) from the Toarcian of Holzmaden, Germany
Journal of Paleontology (September 2004) 78 (5): 973-988

Abstract

This paper offers a preliminary description of a plesiosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Lower Toarcian Posidonien-schiefer near the village of Holzmaden in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, and discusses its phylogenetic relevance. This new taxon, Plesiopterys wildi new genus and species, is remarkable in its retention of several plesiomorphic features. A phylogenetic analysis places Plesiopterys as the sister group of the Plesiosauroidea, and as such the taxon is the most basal taxon yet known on the branch leading to this major clade. Plesiopterys possesses a high count of cervical vertebrae and a relatively small head, yet the limbs and the limb girdles are plesiomorphic in proportion. The skull displays a mosaic of features, reminiscent of both Thalassiodracon and the rhomaleosaurids in some characters, yet similar to Plesiosaurus in others. The basicranium is plesiomorphic and resembles that of nothosaur-grade sauropterygians in several respects. A faunal comparison between Holzmaden and the Lower Toarcian deposits on the Yorkshire coast of England concludes that the Holzmaden fauna is more plesiomorphic than the roughly coeval Yorkshire fauna in two of three plesiosaur subclades.


ISSN: 0022-3360
EISSN: 1937-2337
Coden: JPALAZ
Serial Title: Journal of Paleontology
Serial Volume: 78
Serial Issue: 5
Title: Preliminary description and phylogenetic position of a new plesiosaur (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) from the Toarcian of Holzmaden, Germany
Author(s): O'Keefe, F. Robin
Affiliation: New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, Department of Anatomy, Old Westbury, NY, United States
Pages: 973-988
Published: 200409
Text Language: English
Publisher: Paleontological Society, Lawrence, KS, United States
References: 50
Accession Number: 2004-076533
Categories: Vertebrate paleontology
Document Type: Serial
Bibliographic Level: Analytic
Annotation: Includes appendix
Illustration Description: illus. incl. 1 table
N47°30'00" - N49°47'60", E07°30'00" - E10°30'00"
Country of Publication: United States
Secondary Affiliation: GeoRef, Copyright 2018, American Geosciences Institute.
Update Code: 200422
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