Plesioplatecarpus
Name:
Plesioplatecarpus
(near Platecarpus).
Phonetic: Ple-se-o-plat-e-kar-pus.
Named By: T. Konishi & M. W.
Caldwell - 2011.
Synonyms: Clidastes planifrons,
Platecarpus planifrons.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Squamata,
Mosasauridae, Plioplatecarpinae, Plioplatecarpini.
Species: P. planifrons
(type).
Diet: Carnivore/Piscivore.
Size: Roughly estimated to be about 4.8-5 meters
long.
Known locations: USA.
Time period: Coniacian/Santonian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Several individuals, some
almost complete.
Plesioplatecarpus
was initially named as a species of the genus Clidastes
by Edward
Drinker Cope back in 1874 during a period dubbed the ‘bone
wars’. Later this species was assigned to the genus Platecarpus,
before finally being named as an independent genus in 2011.
Although different to Platecarpus, Plesioplatecarpus
is still
recognised as being very similar, hence the name which actually
means ‘near Platecarpus’.
Plesioplatecarpus
seems to have been towards the smaller end of the scale for mosasaurs,
and was more likely to be an active fast swimming predator of fish as
opposed to an apex predator of other marine reptiles.
Further reading
- Two new plioplatecarpine (Squamata, Mosasauridae) genera from
the Upper Cretaceous of North America, and a global phylogenetic
analysis of plioplatecarpines. - Journal of Vertebrate
Paleontology 31(4):754-783. - T. Konishi & M.
W. Caldwell - 2011.
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