What does the name plesiosaur mean?

What does the name plesiosaur mean?

<< Previous Next >> Scientific name: Plesiosaurus, meaning ‘close-to lizard’. It was given this name by the scientists William Conybeare and Henry de la Beche to indicate that it was more like a normal reptile than Ichthyosaurus, which had been found in the same fossil bed a few years earlier.

What does sauropod mean in English?

: any of a suborder (Sauropoda) of quadrupedal herbivorous saurischian dinosaurs (such as an apatosaurus) of the Jurassic and Cretaceous having a long neck and tail, small head, and 5-toed limbs on which they tended to walk in a digitigrade fashion.

What is the largest pliosaur?

giant Kronosaurus
Pliosaurs were large reptiles that averaged 5-6 meters (16-20 feet) in length. One of the largest pliosaurs known is the Australian giant Kronosaurus , which measures in at 10-11 meters (33-36 feet) long.

Which is the best description of a plesiosaur?

Definition of plesiosaur. : any of an order or suborder (Plesiosauria) of large carnivorous marine reptiles of the Mesozoic with dorsoventrally flattened bodies and limbs modified into flippers.

When did Plesiosaurs first appear in the ocean?

The Plesiosauria (Greek: πλησίος, plesios, meaning “near to” and Sauria) or plesiosaurs are an order or clade of Mesozoic marine reptiles (marine Sauropsida), belonging to the Sauropterygia. Plesiosaurs first appeared in the latest Triassic Period, possibly in the Rhaetian stage, about 203 million years ago.

Is the Plesiosauria in the Natural History Museum?

Stukely affirmed its ” diluvial ” nature but understood it represented some sea creature, perhaps a crocodile or dolphin. The specimen is today preserved in the Natural History Museum, its inventory number being BMNH R.1330. It is the earliest discovered more or less complete fossil reptile skeleton in a museum collection.

How did Plesiosaurus sauros Saur get its name?

< New Latin Plesiosaurus (1821), equivalent to Greek plēsí(os) near, close to + -o- -o- + saûros -saur; orig. so named because of its conjectured nearness to modern reptiles, relative to the ichthyosaurs.

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