Callawayasaurus
Name:
Callawayasaurus
(Callaway’s lizard).
Phonetic: Cal-la-way-sore-us.
Named By: Kenneth Carpenter - 1999.
Synonyms: Alzadasaurus colombiensis,
Callawayosaurus.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria, Elasmosauridae.
Species: C. colombiensis
(type).
Diet: Piscivore.
Size: Body up to 8 meters long, Skull 35
centimetres long.
Known locations: Columbia - Paja Formation.
Time period: Aptian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Known from a skull and
partial post cranial remains. Remains for up to two individuals so
far known.
Callawayasaurus
was originally known as a species of Alzadasaurus
until Kenneth
Carpenter studied the remains and found that they actually represented
a new genus. On a related note the type specimen of Alzadasaurus
today only exists as a synonym to Thalassomedon
and Styxosaurus.
Carpenter named the
new genus in honour of fellow palaeontologist Jack M. Callaway who is
noted for his work on marine reptiles. The species name C.
colombiensis means ‘from Colombia’.
Callawayasaurus
is particularly noted for its fifty-six cervical (neck) vertebrae
that are quite short when compared to other elasmosaurid plesiosaurs.
Also, Callawayasaurus has no pectoral bars, a
feature shared with
the elasmosaurid Terminonatator
which lived during the late Cretaceous.
Further reading
- Revision of North American elasmosaurs from the Cretaceous of the
Western Interior. - Paludicola 2(2):148-173. - K. Carpenter - 1999.
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