Lusonectes
Name:
Lusonectes
(Portugese swimmer).
Phonetic: Lu-so-nek-teez.
Named By: Adam S. Smith, Ricardo Araújo
& Octávio Mateus - 2011.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria, Plesiosauridae.
Species: L. sauvagei (type).
Diet: Piscivore.
Size: Uncertain due to lack of fossil material.
Known locations: Portugal - São Gião Formation.
Time period: Toarcian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Partial skull with
articulated mandible (lower jaw).
Lusonectes
was named from a combination of Luso (Portugese), and nectes
(swimmer), and at the time of its naming it was the only
plesiosaur genus named from a Portugese deposit. However Europe
during the Jurassic was more a collection of islands rather than the
single large land mass it is today, so it may only be a matter of
time before other Portugese plesiosaurs are discovered. The species
name L. sauvagei is in honour of the French
palaeontologist Henri
Émile Sauvage who found the first remains way back in the nineteenth
century.
Lusonectes
is thought to be most closely related to plesiosaurs like
Microcleidus,
and as such may represent a primitive form of
elasmosaurid plesiosaur. These are the sub group proportionately
longer necked plesiosaurs typified by Elasmosaurus.
Further reading
- A new plesiosauroid from
the Toarcian (Lower Jurassic) of Alhadas, Portugal. - Acta
Palaeontologica Polonica 57(2):257-266 - A. S. Smith, R. Araujo &
O. Mateus - 2012.
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