Polycotylidae
| Polycotylids Temporal range: Early - Late Cretaceous,
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| File:Martinectes transparent background.png | |
| Martinectes in the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center | |
| File:Sulcusuchus erraini.png | |
| Life restoration of Sulcusuchus erraini | |
| Scientific classification Edit this classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
| Order: | †Plesiosauria |
| Superfamily: | †Plesiosauroidea |
| Clade: | †Leptocleidia |
| Family: | †Polycotylidae Williston, 1909 |
| Genera | |
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Polycotylidae is a family of plesiosaurs from the Cretaceous. Polycotylids first appeared during the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous, before becoming abundant and widespread during the early Late Cretaceous. Several species survived into the final stage of the Cretaceous, the Maastrichtian around 66 million years ago.[3] The possible latest surviving member Rarosaurus from the late Maastrichtian is more likely a crocodylomorph.[4]
With their short necks and large elongated heads, they resemble the pliosaurs, but phylogenetic studies indicate that they are plesiosauroids, being most closely related to Leptocleididae and more distantly to Elasmosauridae. They have been found worldwide, with specimens reported from New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Morocco, the US, Canada, Eastern Europe, and South America.[5]
Phylogeny
[edit | edit source]Cladogram after Albright, Gillette and Titus (2007).[6]
| Plesiosauria |
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Cladogram after Ketchum and Benson (2010).[8]
Below is a cladogram of polycotylid relationships from Ketchum & Benson, 2011.[9]
References
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- ^ Albright III, L. B., Gillette, D. D., and Titus, A. L., 2007b. Plesiosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) Tropic Shale of southern Utah, part 2: polycotylidae Archived 2011-09-28 at the Wayback Machine. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 27, n. 1, p. 41-58.
- ^ Schumacher, B. A., 2007, A new polycotylid plesiosaur (Reptilia; Sauropterygia) from the Greenhorn Limestone (Upper Cretaceous; lower upper Cenomanian), Black Hills, South Dakota: In: The Geology and Paleontology of the Late Cretaceous marine deposits of the Dakotas, edited by Martin, J. E., and Parris, D. C., The Geological Society of America, Special Paper 427, p. 133-146.
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External links
[edit | edit source]- Palæos: The Vertebrates, Lepidosauromorpha: Cryptocleidoidea: Tricleidia
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