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Microcleidus tournemirensis
Taxonomy
Plesiosaurus tournemirensis was named by Sciau et al. (1990). Its type specimen is MMM J. T. 86-100, Musée Municipal de Millau, Aveyron, France, a skeleton (almost complete, partially disarticulated skeleton (193 bones) including the skull, vertebral series from the atlas-axis to the sacrum (43 cervical, three pecto), and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Tournemire, which is in a Toarcian offshore marl in France.
It was recombined as Occitanosaurus tournemirensis by Bardet et al. (1999); it was recombined as Microcleidus tournemirensis by Benson et al. (2012).
It was recombined as Occitanosaurus tournemirensis by Bardet et al. (1999); it was recombined as Microcleidus tournemirensis by Benson et al. (2012).
Synonymy list
| Year | Name and author |
|---|---|
| 1990 | Plesiosaurus tournemirensis Sciau et al. pp. 114-115 figs. 1-4 |
| 1997 | Plesiosaurus tournemirensis Storrs p. 179 |
| 1999 | Occitanosaurus tournemirensis Bardet et al. pp. 928-929 figs. text-figs 1-5, plates 1-4 |
| 2012 | Microcleidus tournemirensis Benson et al. fig. 4 |
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If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.
†Microcleidus tournemirensis Sciau et al. 1990
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Diagnosis
| Reference | Diagnosis | |
|---|---|---|
| N. Bardet et al. 1999 | Small elasmosaurid c. 4 m long; dorso-cephalic index = 25·6; spatulate premaxillae, separated from maxillae by a well-marked constriction and with a short facial process ending just behind the external nares; maxillae constricted under the middle of the orbits and excluded from internal nares by palatine-vomer contact; small teeth around the premaxilla-maxilla suture; well-developed triangular prefrontals excluding frontals from external nares; frontals with narrow anterior premaxillary process separating the prefrontals; postorbitals very high, broadly contacting the posterior ramus of the maxillae; trapezoidal jugals excluded from the orbital margin by postorbital maxilla contact; orbits diagonally directed; parietals without pineal foramen; temporal fenestrae with a sigmoidal anterior margin; vertebral formula: 43 cervical, three pectoral, 16 dorsal and four sacral vertebrae; cervico-dorsal index = 191; powerful interclavicle-clavicle complex with a notched wide transverse anterior plate and a narrow longitudinal posterior peg contacting coracoids; coracoids with lateral border bearing a pointed protuberance and expanded posterolateral cornua. |
Measurements
No measurements are available
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| Source: o = order | |||||
| Reference: Kiessling 2004 | |||||
Age range: Late/Upper Toarcian or 180.10000 to 175.60000 Ma
Collections: one only
| Time interval | Ma | Country or state | Original ID and collection number |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late/Upper Toarcian | France (Midi-Pyrenees) | Plesiosaurus tournemirensis (90424) |