Kimmerosaurus

Taxobox
name = "Kimmerosaurus"
fossil_range = Late Jurassic


image_width = 250px
image_caption = ""
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Reptilia
ordo = Plesiosauria
subordo = Plesiosauroidea
familia = Cimoliasauridae
genus = "Kimmerosaurus"
genus_authority = Brown, 1981
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
*"Kimmerosaurus langhami" type
Brown, 1981

"Kimmerosaurus" ("lizard from Kimmeridge") is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the family Cimoliasauridae.

Etymology

The first part of the genus name of "Kimmerosaurus" comes from the location of the first "Kimmerosaurus" fossils, Kimmeridge Clay deposits of Dorset, England (these deposits are also the root word for the Kimmeridgian stage of the Jurassic period). The second part comes from the Greek word "σαυρος" ("sauros"), "lizard".citeweb
url=http://www.plesiosaur.com/database/genusIndividual.php?i=37
title=Plesiosaur.com entry on Kimmerosaurus
accessdate=2008-04-22]

Description

As "Kimmerosaurus" is known from only a skull (and a few cervical vertebrae), much of the plesiosaur's description comes from its teeth, which are recurved and buccolingually compressed (compressed cheek-side to tongue-side). The premaxilla has only eight teeth, while there are thirty-six teeth on each ramus.Brown, David S.; 1981b; The English Upper Jurassic Plesiosauroidea (Reptilia) and a review of the phylogeny and classification of the Plesiosauria; Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology; 35(4) pp.253-347] The parietals of "Kimmerosaurus" do not form a sagittal crest. The overall skull of "Kimmerosaurus" is similar to "Cryptoclidus" but much more broad.

Fossils

There are very few fossil remains of "Kimmerosaurus" known. In fact, nothing has been found to show what "Kimmerosaurus" may have looked like below the neck, although the atlas and the axis are similar to those of the plesiosaur "Colymbosaurus". It is this lack of any post-cranial fossils, and the bone similarities that has led to the belief that "Kimmerosaurus" fossils could be the missing head of "Colymbosaurus", a similar plesiosaur with no known skull fossils.

Distribution

"Kimmerosaurus" fossils are found in the Kimmeridge Clay Formation near the town of Kimmeridge, in Dorset, England. This animal may have ranged through much of what is now the Jurassic Coast, a world heritage site in the southern United Kingdom.

References

External links

* [http://www.plesiosaur.com/database/genusIndividual.php?i=37 Entry on "Kimmerosaurus"] at The Plesiosaur Site
* [http://www.palaeos.com/Vertebrates/Units/220Lepidosauromorpha/220.820.html#Kimmerosaurus Palaeos Vertebrates entry]