It is a marine reptile that lived at the same time as several dinosaurs, but in no case should it be confused with one. This area was previously covered in … – It was a rather heavy reptile, weighing no more than 2 to 9 tons. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. The neck vertebrae immediately following the skull were long and low, and had crests on the sides. This happened about 66 million years ago, and would have meant the disappearance of about 75% of biological species.Perhaps one day the exact cause of the mass extinction of species will be known, although with the tools we have today it is an impossible mission.This happened millions of years ago and the evidence we have is not enough to determine exactly.In the absence of conclusive evidence, several hypotheses have emerged concerning this.
That is why the need arose to subdivide the Order Plesiosauria into two: Sub-order Pilosauroidea and Sub-order Plesiosauridea.Those of the last suborder are those originally classified only within the Plesiosaurian Order and that is why the resemblance of the order to the suborder.
Elasmosaurus is an extinct plesiosaur which lived approximately 80 to 65 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous Period. Using a standardized cubic formula, that means a leatherback of comparable size (16-foot carapace instead of 5.1 feet) would weigh approximately 26, 147 lbs (Caribbean) or 23,091 lbs (French Guiana), respectively.
The pectoral rod possessed by the Elasmosaurus shows that it was a very advanced animal species in terms of evolution with respect to its relatives.The name of the Elasmosaurus refers to one of its main characteristics. – The average height of the Elasmosaurus was about 3 meters. In this case, it refers to the thin plates on its pelvic girdle. They inhabited the Earth until what is known as the K-T (Cretaceous-Tertiary) extinction that marks the end of the Mesozoic era, also known by many as the era of the dinosaurs.Plesiosaurs have been mistakenly referred to as marine dinosaurs on several occasions. The scapula had margins of approximately equal length for the joint with the coracoid and the articular surface for the upper arm. Height – Maximum Speed ... Elasmosaurus was named by paleontologist E. D. Cope in 1868 (from a fossil was found in Wyoming, USA). Description Edit. What is its weight?
It was first discovered in the spring of 1868 by Edward Drinker Cope in Western Kansas in the United States.
The neck of elasmosaurus was 2/3 of its entire body length. They were very graceful swimmers and had extremely longnecks to catch fish with; Elasmosaurus lived around the world from N. America to Asia, there were several Elasmosaurids such the Thalassomodon, Goniosaurus, Aphrosaurus and Futabasaurus.
They would have turned their necks in the direction of small unwary fish or cephalopods and eaten them.It is not known whether they were able to bend their necks upwards, but it is known that even if they could have, they would never have been able to stick their necks out above the surface of the water.The weight of their necks was too great, and if not for the inability to bend their necks upward, it would have been the effect of gravity that prevented them from doing so.The reproduction of these specimens was very strange, for unlike the other marine reptiles that give birth to a lot of small baby eggs, the plesiosaur would have given birth to only one large living baby.The adult plesiosaurs were about four metres long, while the young would have been an average of one and a half metres long.The cause of the extinction of the plesiosaurs was the K-T extinction. This sometimes leads to confusion because the term “plesiosaurs” is often used to refer to both the order and the suborder.The discovery of the plesiosaur dates back to 1605, when Richard Verstegen of Antwerp found remains of this reptile, although at that time he did not yet refer to them as plesiosaurs. Take the prehistoric reptile quiz! In his defense, at the time he was an expert on lizards, which have a short neck and a long tail, and no one had seen a plesiosaur the size of
The Elasmosaurus was no different to this fact even though it is not actually a dinosaur.
Elasmosaurus platyurus is the only species that has been found in the genus Elasmosaurus. Elasmosaurus platyurus is the only species that has been found in the genus Elasmosaurus.
As Elasmosaurus swam slowly over the sea floor, it would reach down to pick prey off the bottom.
History Edit. Quiz.
servez_2build. Most, if not all, have almost certainly seen a snake and/or a turtle at some time in their lives or at least know what a snake and/or a turtle is.Now, to get an idea of the general appearance of an Elasmosaurus, you have to put the snake inside the shell of the turtle and make it 20 times bigger. Reptiles and dinosaurs are closely related, but they have their own morphological differences.How long is it? To facilitate digestion, it would have used small stones for a gastrolitic process.Edward Drinker Cope described Elasmosaurus platyurus in March 1868 with a fossil collected by Dr. Theophilos Turner (military doctor) from western Kansas (United States).Many more specimens of Elasmosaurus have been found, although finally Carpentier in 1999 determined that only a single species of this genus existed.YourDinosaurs participates in the Amazon US Affiliate Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to give websites a way to earn advertising commissions.More detailed description of the plesiosaur suborderThis website uses cookies to improve your experience.