Name: Jucha
(after a figure in in Turkic mythology).
Phonetic: Jur-kah.
Named By: Valentin Fischer, Nikolay G. Zverkov,
Maxim S.
Arkhangelsky, Ilya M. Stenshin, Ivan V. Blagovetshensky
&
Gleb N. Uspensky - 2020.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria, Elasmosauridae.
Species: J. squalea (type).
Diet: Plesiosaur.
Size: Estimated at about 5 meters long.
Known locations: Russia - Klimovka Formation.
Time period: Hauterivian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial post cranial remains.
Jucha
is a
genus of elasmosaurid plesiosaur
that lived in Russian waters during
the early Cretaceous. Jucha is noted for being
very primitive in form
for an elasmosaurid plesiosaur, though it is uncertain if Jucha
was
an early development, or perhaps a later surviving example of
aprimitive elasmosaurid plesisoaur.
Further reading
- A new elasmosaurid
plesiosaurian from the Early Cretaceous of Russia marks an early
attempt at neck elongation. - Zoological Journal of the Linnean
Society - Valentin Fischer, Nikolay G. Zverkov, Maxim S.
Arkhangelsky, Ilya M. Stenshin, Ivan V. Blagovetshensky
&
Gleb N. Uspensky - 2020.
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