Fresnosaurus
Name:
Fresnosaurus
(Fresno lizard).
Phonetic: Frez-noe-sore-us.
Named By: Samuel Paul Welles - 1943.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria, Elasmosauridae.
Species: F. drescheri
(type).
Diet: Piscivore.
Size: Estimate around 10 meters long for the
holotype, but possibly up to 12 meters when fully grown.
Known locations: USA - California - Moreno
Formation.
Time period: Maastrichtian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial skeleton of a
juvenile/subadult.
Fresnosaurus
was a late Cretaceous era elasmosaurid plesiosaur
that seems to have
the signature feature of this group of a very long neck proportionately
greater than in earlier and more primitive plesiosaur forms. Like
with these other genera, Fresnosaurus was
probably a specialist
hunter of fish and soft bodied cephalopods like squid.
Fresnosaurus
is not the only plesiosaur from the Moreno Formation with others
including Morenosaurus,
Aphrosaurus
and Hydrotherosaurus.
Additionally not only have all of these plesiosaurs come from the
Moreno Formation, but they were all described by Samuel Paul Welles
and all in 1943. Other marine reptiles to be discovered in the
Moreno Formation include the mosasaurs
Plotosaurus
and
Plesiotylosaurus,
as well as the remains of marine turtles.
The
name Fresnosaurus is a reference to Fresno County
in California,
while the type species name F. drescheri is in
honour of Arthur
Drescher.
Further reading
- Elasmosaurid plesiosaurs with description of new material from
California and Colorado. Memoirs of the University of California
13:125-254. - S. P. Welles - 1943.
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