Polycotylidae

Polycotylidae is a family of plesiosaurs from the Cretaceous, a sister group to Leptocleididae.

Polycotylids
Temporal range: Early - Late Cretaceous, 103–66 Ma
Dolichorhynchops bonneri in the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Superorder: Sauropterygia
Order: Plesiosauria
Clade: Leptocleidia
Family: Polycotylidae
Williston, 1909
Genera

With their short necks and large elongated heads, they resemble the pliosaurs, but closer phylogenetic studies indicate that they share many common features with the Plesiosauridae and Elasmosauridae. They have been found worldwide, with specimens reported from New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Morocco, the US, Canada, Eastern Europe, and South America.[1]

Phylogeny

Trinacromerum bentonianum from the Late Cretaceous of Kansas

Cladogram after Albright, Gillette and Titus (2007).[2]

Plesiosauria 

Plesiosaurus

Tricleidus

 Polycotylidae 

Edgarosaurus

Thililua

 Palmulainae 

UMUT MV 19965 (from Japan)

Pahasapasaurus (=AMM 98.1.1)[3]

Palmulasaurus

 Polycotylinae 

Dolichorhynchops

Trinacromerum

Eopolycotylus

Polycotylus

Cladogram after Ketchum and Benson (2010).[4]

Plesiosauroidea 

Cryptoclididae

 Leptocleidia 

Leptocleididae

 Polycotylidae 

Plesiopleurodon

Edgarosaurus

QM F18041

Eopolycotylus

Trinacromerum

Dolichorhynchops herschelensis

Dolichorhynchops

Manemergus

Palmulasaurus

Below is a cladogram of polycotylid relationships from Ketchum & Benson, 2011.[5]

Plesiosauroidea 

Cryptoclididae

 Leptocleidia 

Leptocleididae

 Polycotylidae 

Edgarosaurus

Plesiopleurodon

QM F18041

Eopolycotylus

Polycotylus

Thililua

Trinacromerum

Manemergus

Dolichorhynchops herschelensis

Dolichorhynchops

Palmulasaurus

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References

  1. Druckenmiller, Patrick S. & Russell, Anthony P. (2009). "Earliest North American Occurrence Of Polycotylidae (Sauropterygia: Plesiosauria) From The Lower Cretaceous (Albian) Clearwater Formation, Alberta, Canada" (PDF). Journal of Paleontology. 83 (6): 361–392. doi:10.1666/09-014.1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-06.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Ketchum, H. F. & Benson, R. B. J. (2010). "Global interrelationships of Plesiosauria (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) and the pivotal role of taxon sampling in determining the outcome of phylogenetic analyses". Biological Reviews. 85: 361–392. doi:10.1111/j.1469-185X.2009.00107.x. PMID 20002391.
  5. Hilary F. Ketchum and Roger B. J. Benson (2011). "A new pliosaurid (Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria) from the Oxford Clay Formation (Middle Jurassic, Callovian) of England: evidence for a gracile, longirostrine grade of Early-Middle Jurassic pliosaurids". Special Papers in Palaeontology. 86: 109–129. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2011.01083.x.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)


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