Tuarangisaurus
| Tuarangisaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 78 Ma | |
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| Restored skeleton | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
| Order: | †Plesiosauria |
| Family: | †Elasmosauridae |
| Genus: | †Tuarangisaurus Wiffen & Moisley, 1986 |
| Species: | †T. keyesi |
| Binomial name | |
| Tuarangisaurus keyesi Wiffen & Moisley, 1986 | |
Tuarangisaurus (Maori tuarangi "ancient" + Greek sauros "lizard") is an extinct genus of elasmosaurid known from New Zealand. The type and only known species is T. keyesi, named by Wiffen and Moisley in 1986.[1][2]
Description
The estimated length of Tuarangisaurus is about 8 metres (26 ft).[3] It can be distinguished from all other known elasmosaurids by a unique combination of characteristics as well as two otherwise unknown traits: the ectopterygoid has a long process directed towards the back, and a large boss of bone underneath. A stapes is present in the holotype; this bone was previously thought to be absent from elasmosaurids.[2][4]
Discovery and naming
Tuarangisaurus is known from the holotype NZGS CD425, a nearly complete skull and mandible, and from NZGS CD426, nine anterior-most cervical vertebrae. Some postcranial remains of juveniles were also attributed to Tuarangisaurus.[1] It was collected from the Maungataniwha Sandstone Member of the Tahora Formation, dating to the upper Campanian to lower Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous, about 78 million years ago.[2]
A second species, T. australis, was named in 2005;[3] however, it was moved to the genus Eromangasaurus in 2007, becoming the senior synonym of E. carinognathus.[5] A third species, T.? cabazai, was also referred to Tuarangisaurus by the original description;[1] however, it was most recently reassigned to an indeterminate aristonectine.[6]
Classification
Tuarangisaurus was initially assigned to the Elasmosauridae;[1] one study found it to be a close relative of Callawayasaurus.[7] A new phylogenetic analysis of plesiosaurs in 2016 reaffirmed that Tuarangisaurus was an elasmosaurid, but rejected a close relationship with Callawayasaurus. Its position within the Elasmosauridae according to this analysis is shown below.[2]
| Elasmosauridae |
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See also
References
- 1 2 3 4 Wiffen, J.; Moisley, W.L. (1986). "Late Cretaceous reptiles (Families Elasmosauridae and Pliosauridae) from the Mangahouanga Stream, North Island, New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 29 (2): 205–252. doi:10.1080/00288306.1986.10427535.
- 1 2 3 4 O'Gorman, J.P.; Otero, R.A.; Hiller, N.; Simes, J.; Terezow, M. (2016). "Redescription of Tuarangisaurus keyesi (Sauropterygia; Elasmosauridae), a key species from the uppermost Cretaceous of the Weddellian Province: Internal skull anatomy and phylogenetic position". Cretaceous Research. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2016.11.014.
- 1 2 Sachs, S. (2005). "Tuarangisaurus australis sp. nov. (Plesiosauria: Elasmosauridae) from the Lower Cretaceous of northeastern Queensland, with additional notes on the phylogeny of the Elasmosauridae" (PDF). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 50 (2): 425–440.
- ↑ Carpenter, K. (1999). "Revision of North American elasmosaurs from the Cretaceous of the western interior". Paludicola. 2: 148–173.
- ↑ Benjamin P. Kear (2007). "Taxonomic clarification of the Australian elasmosaurid genus Eromangasaurus, with reference to other austral elasmosaur taxa". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 27 (1): 241–246. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[241:TCOTAE]2.0.CO;2.
- ↑ O'Gorman, J.P.; Gasparini, Z.; Salgado, L. (2014). "Reappraisal of Tuarangisaurus? cabazai (Elasmosauridae, Plesiosauria) from the Upper Maastrichtian of northern Patagonia, Argentina". Cretaceous Research. 47: 39–47. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2013.10.003.
- ↑ Kubo, T.; Mitchell, M.T.; Henderson, D.M. (2012). "Albertonectes vanderveldei, a new elasmosaur (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) from the Upper Cretaceous of Alberta". Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology. 32 (3): 557–572. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.658124.
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