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 invalid, doubtful (nomen dubium), or were not formally published (nomen nudum), as well as junior synonyms of more established names, and genera that are no longer considered plesiosaurs. The list currently includes 208 genera.
Scope and terminology
There is no official, canonical list of plesiosaur genera but one of the most thorough attempts can be found on the Plesiosauria section of Mikko Haaramo's Phylogeny Archive;[1] also pertinent is the Plesiosaur Genera section at Adam Stuart Smith's Plesiosaur Directory.[2]
Junior synonym: A name which describes the same taxon as a previously published name. If two or more genera are formally designated and the type specimens are later assigned to the same genus, the first to be published (in chronological order) is the senior synonym, and all other instances are junior synonyms. Senior synonyms are generally used, except by special decision of the ICZN, but junior synonyms cannot be used again, even if deprecated. Junior synonymy is often subjective, unless the genera described were both based on the same type specimen.
Nomen nudum (Latin for "naked name"): A name that has appeared in print but has not yet been formally published by the standards of the ICZN. Nomina nuda (the plural form) are invalid, and are therefore not italicized as a proper generic name would be. If the name is later formally published, that name is no longer a nomen nudum and will be italicized on this list. Often, the formally published name will differ from any nomina nuda that describe the same specimen. In this case, these nomina nuda will be deleted from this list in favor of the published name.
Preoccupied name: A name that is formally published, but which has already been used for another taxon. This second use is invalid (as are all subsequent uses) and the name must be replaced. As preoccupied names are not valid generic names, they will also go unitalicized on this list.
Nomen dubium (Latin for "dubious name"): A name describing a fossil with no unique diagnostic features. As this can be an extremely subjective and controversial designation, this term is not used on this list.
^Marcela Gómez-Pérez; Leslie F. Noè (2017). "Cranial anatomy of a new pliosaurid Acostasaurus pavachoquensis from the Lower Cretaceous of Colombia, South America". Palaeontographica Abteilung A. 310 (1–2): 5–42. Bibcode:2017PalAA.310....5G. doi:10.1127/pala/2017/0068.
^Tai Kubo; Mark T. Mitchell & Donald M. Henderson (2012). "Albertonectes vanderveldei, a new elasmosaur (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) from the Upper Cretaceous of Alberta". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 32 (3): 557–572. Bibcode:2012JVPal..32..557K. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.658124. S2CID129500470.
^Andrea Cau & Federico Fanti (2015). "High evolutionary rates and the origin of the Rosso Ammonitico Veronese Formation (Middle-Upper Jurassic of Italy) reptiles". Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology. 28 (7): 952–962. doi:10.1080/08912963.2015.1073726. S2CID86528030.
^Peggy Vincent & Roger B. J. Benson (2012). "Anningasaura, a basal plesiosaurian (Reptilia, Plesiosauria) from the Lower Jurassic of Lyme Regis, United Kingdom". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 32 (5): 1049–1063. Bibcode:2012JVPal..32.1049V. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.686467. S2CID86547069.
^O’Gorman, José P.; Carignano, Ana Paula; Calvo-Marcilese, Lydia; Pérez Panera, Juan Pablo (2023-08-10). "A new elasmosaurid (Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria) from the upper levels of the La Colonia Formation (upper Maastrichtian), Chubut Province, Argentina". Cretaceous Research. 152: 105674. Bibcode:2023CrRes.15205674O. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105674. ISSN0195-6671. S2CID260830333.
^ abPLESIOSAURS FROM THE UPPER CRETACEOUS (CENOMANIAN–TURONIAN) TROPIC SHALE OF SOUTHERN UTAH, PART 2: POLYCOTYLIDAE
L. Barry Albright Iii, David D. Gillette, and Alan L. Titus, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2007, 27(1):41-58
^Oliver Hampe (2013). "The forgotten remains of a leptocleidid plesiosaur (Sauropterygia: Plesiosauroidea) from the Early Cretaceous of Gronau (Münsterland, Westphalia, Germany)". Paläontologische Zeitschrift. 87 (4): 473–491. Bibcode:2013PalZ...87..473H. doi:10.1007/s12542-013-0175-3. S2CID129834688.
^ abRoger B. J. Benson; Hilary F. Ketchum; Darren Naish & Langan E. Turner (2013). "A new leptocleidid (Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria) from the Vectis Formation (Early Barremian–early Aptian; Early Cretaceous) of the Isle of Wight and the evolution of Leptocleididae, a controversial clade". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 11 (2): 233–250. Bibcode:2013JSPal..11..233B. doi:10.1080/14772019.2011.634444. S2CID18562271.
^Bruce A. Schumacher; Kenneth Carpenter & Michael J. Everhart (2013). "A new Cretaceous Pliosaurid (Reptilia, Plesiosauria) from the Carlile Shale (middle Turonian) of Russell County, Kansas". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 33 (3): 613–628. Bibcode:2013JVPal..33..613S. doi:10.1080/02724634.2013.722576. S2CID130165209.
^Druckenmiller, Patrick S.; Russell, Anthony P. (2009). "The new plesiosaurian genus Nichollssaura from Alberta, Canada: replacement name for the preoccupied genus Nichollsia". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 29 (1): 276. Bibcode:2009JVPal..29..276D. doi:10.1080/02724634.2009.10010379. S2CID83847722.
^Espen M. Knutsen (2012). "A taxonomic revision of the genus Pliosaurus (Owen, 1841a) Owen, 1841b". Norwegian Journal of Geology 92 (2–3): 259–276. ISSN 0029-196X. Low resolution pdf High resolution pdf
^Benson, R. B. J.; Evans, M.; Smith, A. S.; Sassoon, J.; Moore-Faye, S.; Ketchum, H. F.; Forrest, R. (2013). "A Giant Pliosaurid Skull from the Late Jurassic of England". In Butler, Richard J. PLoS ONE 8 (5): e65989. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0065989. edit
^O'Keefe, F.R. & Street, H.P. 2009; "Osteology of the Cryptocleidoid Plesiosaur Tatenectes laramiensis, with Comments on the Taxonomic Status of the Cimoliasauridae" Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology29(1):48–57
^E. D. Cope. 1876. On some extinct reptiles and Batrachia from the Judith River and Fox Hills Beds of Montana. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 28:340-359
^José P. O’Gorman; Leonardo Salgado; Eduardo B. Olivero & Sergio A. Marenssi (2015). "Vegasaurus molyi, gen. et sp. nov. (Plesiosauria, Elasmosauridae), from the Cape Lamb Member (lower Maastrichtian) of the Snow Hill Island Formation, Vega Island, Antarctica, and remarks on Wedellian Elasmosauridae". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 35 (3): e931285. Bibcode:2015JVPal..35E1285O. doi:10.1080/02724634.2014.931285. hdl:11336/53416. S2CID128965534.
^ abZhang, Y (1985). A new plesiosaur from Middle Jurassic of Sichuan Basin. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 23: 235-240.
References
Haaramo, Mikko (15 November 2005). "Plesiosauria". Mikko's Phylogeny Archive. Archived from the original on 2 September 2006. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
Smith, Adam Stuart. "Plesiosaur Genera". The Plesiosaur Directory. Archived from the original on 21 March 2006. Retrieved 4 November 2023.