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A rare new Pliensbachian plesiosaurian from the Amaltheenton Formation of Bielefeld in northwestern Germany

  

Category:  Health, Science & Technology

Via:  matti-viikate  •  7 years ago  •  3 comments

A rare new Pliensbachian plesiosaurian from the Amaltheenton Formation of Bielefeld in northwestern Germany

S achs , S. & K ear , B.P. Month, 20XX. A rare new Pliensbachian plesiosaurian from the Amaltheenton Formation of Bielefeld in northwestern Germany.   Alcheringa   XX, XXX–XXX. ISSN 0311-5518.

We describe a new plesiosaurian from the upper Pliensbachian Amaltheenton Formation of Bielefeld in northwestern Germany. The taxon is based upon an incomplete associated skeleton comprising part of the right mandibular ramus, several teeth, a series of cervical, pectoral, dorsal and caudal vertebrae, as well as ribs, limb girdle elements including a nearly complete right scapula, and various distal limb bones. A unique character state combination serves to distinguish the Amaltheenton Formation remains from other previously documented Early Jurassic plesiosaurians. The most important features are the presence of a longitudinal notch incising the posterior rim of the glenoid fossa and retroarticular process, and a pronounced ventrolateral shelf on the scapula, both of which constitute derived states otherwise shared with Early Cretaceous leptocleidians. However, phylogenetic analysis using a ‘total group’ Plesiosauria data-set that specifically accommodates for Pliensbachian taxa unanimously placed the Amaltheenton Formation plesiosaurian among Early–Middle Jurassic pliosaurids. This discovery is significant because it reveals unexpected homoplasy, but also because it establishes what is only the third formally named plesiosaurian taxon thus far documented from Pliensbachian strata worldwide.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03115518.2017.1367419?needAccess=true&journalCode=talc20&


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Matti Viikate
Freshman Silent
1  seeder  Matti Viikate    7 years ago

Thank you for visiting, comments are welcome.

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
2  Buzz of the Orient    7 years ago

You've got to be kidding. thinking

 
 
 
Old Hermit
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3  Old Hermit    7 years ago

Nice find Matti.  Thanks for bringing it forward.

Ancestor of sea reptile super-predators found in Germany

A new species of extinct sea monster from the Early Jurassic has been identified by a team of German and Swedish researchers. The fossilized bones were found in a clay pit near the city of Bielefeld in Germany. The findings will be published in the journal Alcheringa.

The fossilized bones of a plesiosaur, an extinct long-necked marine reptile from the Age of Dinosaurs, have been identified by paleontologists from the Naturkunde-Museum Bielefeld in Germany and Uppsala University in Sweden. The remains are about 190 million years old and were excavated in the early 1980s.

The new find was named Arminisaurus schuberti after the ancient Germanic chieftain Arminius, who defeated the Roman legions at Teutoburg Forest near Bielefeld in 9 AD, and Siegfried Schubert, the amateur paleontologist who secured the specimen for scientific study.

Another extinct sea reptile from Germany was named by the same research team only last month.

"Plesiosaurs were amongst the most successful marine predators from the Age of Dinosaurs. Some, such as the famous Liopleurodon, were colossal predators up to 15 metres long. They were the equivalent of White sharks and Killer whales in the oceans today" said Sven Sachs, a researcher at the Naturkunde-Museum Bielefeld and author on the study.

By comparison, Arminisaurus was small, only about 3-4 metres long, and probably hunted fish, squid and other small prey in the ancient seas that covered Germany during the Jurassic period.

The preserved bones of Arminisaurus were broken up by mining machinery, but enough was recovered to classify the animal as an early relative of later Jurassic plesiosaur super predators known as pliosaurids. About 40 percent of the skeleton was recovered, including parts of the skull, vertebrae and limb bones.

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