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''Cryptoclidus'' ( ) is a
''Cryptoclidus'' was a medium-sized plesiosaur, measuring up to long and weighing about . The fragile build of the head and teeth preclude any grappling with prey, and suggest a diet of small, soft-bodied animals such as squid and shoaling fish. ''Cryptoclidus'' may have used its long, intermeshing teeth to strain small prey from the water, or perhaps sift through sediment for buried animals.
The size and shape of the nares and nasal openings have led Brown and Cruickshank (1994) to argue that they were used to sample seawater for smells and chemical traces.Brown and Cruickshank, 1994
The cladogram below follows the topology from Benson et al. (2012) analysis.
Paleos Vertebrates - Cryptocleidoidea
{{Taxonbar, from=Q131153 Cryptoclidids Callovian life Middle Jurassic plesiosaurs of Europe Jurassic England Fossils of England Oxford Clay Jurassic Cuba Fossils of Cuba Fossil taxa described in 1892 Taxa named by Harry Seeley Sauropterygian genera
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of plesiosaur reptile from the Middle Jurassic period
Period may refer to:
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of England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
, and Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
.
Discovery
''Cryptoclidus'' was a plesiosaur whose specimens include adult and juvenile skeletons, and remains which have been found in various degrees of preservation in England, Northern France, Russia, and South America. Its name, meaning "hidden clavicles", refer to its small, practically invisibleclavicle
The clavicle, or collarbone, is a slender, S-shaped long bone approximately 6 inches (15 cm) long that serves as a strut between the shoulder blade and the sternum (breastbone). There are two clavicles, one on the left and one on the r ...
s buried in its front limb girdle.
The type species was initially described as ''Plesiosaurus
''Plesiosaurus'' (Greek: ' ('), near to + ' ('), lizard) is a genus of extinct, large marine sauropterygian reptile that lived during the Early Jurassic. It is known by nearly complete skeletons from the Lias of England. It is distinguishable b ...
eurymerus'' by Phillips (1871). The specific name "wide femur" refers to the forelimb, which was mistaken for a hindlimb at the time. Fossils of ''Cryptoclidus'' have been found in the Oxford Clay
The Oxford Clay (or Oxford Clay Formation) is a Jurassic marine sedimentary rock formation underlying much of southeast England, from as far west as Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the ...
of Cambridgeshire, England. The dubious species ''Cryptoclidus beaugrandi'' is known from Kimmeridgian-age deposits in Boulogne-sur-Mer
Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the C ...
, France. ''Cryptoclidus vignalensis'', which is now considered undiagnostic, hails from the Jagua Formation of western Cuba.
Description
''Cryptoclidus'' was a medium-sized plesiosaur, measuring up to long and weighing about . The fragile build of the head and teeth preclude any grappling with prey, and suggest a diet of small, soft-bodied animals such as squid and shoaling fish. ''Cryptoclidus'' may have used its long, intermeshing teeth to strain small prey from the water, or perhaps sift through sediment for buried animals.
The size and shape of the nares and nasal openings have led Brown and Cruickshank (1994) to argue that they were used to sample seawater for smells and chemical traces.Brown and Cruickshank, 1994
Classification
The cladogram below follows the topology from Benson et al. (2012) analysis.
See also
*List of plesiosaur genera
This list of plesiosaurs is a comprehensive listing of all genera that have ever been included in the order Plesiosauria, excluding purely vernacular terms. The list includes all commonly accepted genera, but also genera that are now considered in ...
* Timeline of plesiosaur research
This timeline of plesiosaur research is a chronologically ordered list of important fossil discoveries, controversies of interpretation, taxonomic revisions, and cultural portrayals of plesiosaurs, an order of marine reptiles that flourished dur ...
References
Further reading
* Z. Gasparini and L. Spaletti. 1993. First Callovian plesiosaurs from the Neuquen Basin, Argentina. Ameghiniana 30(3):245-254External links
Paleos Vertebrates - Cryptocleidoidea
{{Taxonbar, from=Q131153 Cryptoclidids Callovian life Middle Jurassic plesiosaurs of Europe Jurassic England Fossils of England Oxford Clay Jurassic Cuba Fossils of Cuba Fossil taxa described in 1892 Taxa named by Harry Seeley Sauropterygian genera