''Palmulasaurus'' is a
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
polycotylid
Polycotylidae is a family of plesiosaurs from the Cretaceous, a sister group to Leptocleididae. They are known as false pliosaurs. Polycotylids first appeared during the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous, before becoming abundant and widesprea ...
plesiosaur
The Plesiosauria or plesiosaurs are an Order (biology), order or clade of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles, belonging to the Sauropterygia.
Plesiosaurs first appeared in the latest Triassic Period (geology), Period, possibly in the Rhaetian st ...
from the
Turonian
The Turonian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS' geologic timescale, the second age (geology), age in the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch, or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the Upper Cretaceous series (stratigraphy), ...
Tropic Shale
The Tropic Shale is a Mesozoic geologic Formation (geology), formation. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation,Weishampel, ''et al.'' (2004). "Dinosaur distribution." Pp. 517-607. including ''Nothronych ...
of
Utah
Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...
. It was originally described as ''Palmula'', but the name was occupied by a genus of Cretaceous
foraminifer
Foraminifera ( ; Latin for "hole bearers"; informally called "forams") are single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class of Rhizarian protists characterized by streaming granular ectoplasm for catching food and other uses; and commonly ...
first described in 1833.
See also
*
List of plesiosaurs
This list of plesiosaurs is a comprehensive listing of all Genus, 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 conside ...
*
Timeline of plesiosaur research
This timeline of plesiosaur research is a chronologically ordered list of important fossil discoveries, controversies of interpretation, Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic revisions, and cultural portrayals of plesiosaurs, an order of marine reptiles ...
References
Polycotylidae
Late Cretaceous plesiosaurs of North America
Turonian life
Paleontology in Utah
Fossil taxa described in 2007
Sauropterygian genera
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