Vinialesaurus

Taxobox
name = "Vinialesaurus"


image_width =
image_caption =
fossil_range = Late Jurassic
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo = Sauropterygia
ordo = Plesiosauria
subordo = Plesiosauroidea
familia = Cryptoclididae
genus = "Vinialesaurus"
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
* "Vinialesaurus caroli" (type) De la Torre & Rojas, 1949/Gasparini "et al"., 2002

"Vinialesaurus" is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) of what is now Cuba. The type species is "Vinialesaurus caroli", first described as "Cryptocleidus caroli" by De la Torre and Rojas in 1949, and redescribed by Gasparini, Bardet and Iturralde in 2002. The authors of the 2002 paper considered "Vinialesaurus" distinct enough from "Cryptocleidus" to warrant its own genus, but it was broadly similar to "Cryptocleidus".

The name "Vinialesaurus" honors Viñales, the town in western Cuba where the fossils of "Vinialesaurus" was discovered. These fossils consist of a mostly complete skull, jaw, and portions of the vertebrae.

References

* Gasparini, Z., Bardet, N., and Iturralde-Vinent, M. (2002). " [http://www.medioambiente.cu/museo/viniasaur.htm A new cryptoclidid plesiosaur from the Oxfordian (Late Jurassic) of Cuba] ". "Geobios" 35(2): 201-211.

External links

* [http://www.plesiosaur.com/database/speciesIndividual.php?i=497 "Vinialesaurus"] in the Plesiosaur site