Cranial anatomy of Thalassiodracon hawkinsii (Reptilia, Plesiosauria) from the Early Jurassic of Somerset, United Kingdom

Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

Volumn 31, Issue 3, 2011, Pages 562-574

  Benson, Roger B J ^a   Bates, Karl T ^b   Johnson, Mark R ^c   Withers, Philip J ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL   (United Kingdom)

^c UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DENTITION; JURASSIC; PHYLOGENETICS; SKELETON; SKULL; STRATIGRAPHY; TAXONOMY; TETRAPOD; TOOTH;

ENGLAND; SOMERSET; UNITED KINGDOM;

PLANORBIS; PLESIOSAURIA; PLIOSAURIDAE; REPTILIA; RHOMALEOSAURIDAE; TETRAPODA;

EID: 79957614653     PISSN: 02724634     EISSN: 19372809     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2011.572937     Document Type: Article

References (93)

1. Andrews, C. W. 1896. On the structure of the plesiosaurian skull. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London 52:246-253.
2. Andrews, C. W. 1910. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Marine Reptiles of the Oxford Clay. Part I. BritishMuseum (Natural History), London, 205 pp.
3. Andrews, C. W. 1913. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Marine Reptiles of the Oxford Clay. Part II. British Museum (Natural History), London, 206 pp.
4. Andrews, C. W. 1922. Description of a new plesiosaur from the Weald Clay of Berwick (Sussex). Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London 78:285-298.
5. Babout, L., P. M. Mummery, T. J. Marrow, A. Tzelepi, and P. J. Withers. 2005. The effect of thermal oxidation on polycrystalline graphite studied by x-ray tomography. Carbon 43:765-774. (Pubitemid 40211996)
6. Bakker, R. 1993. Plesiosaur extinction cycles-events that mark the beginning, middle, and end of the Cretaceous. Geological Survey of Canada, Special Paper 39:641-664.
7. Bardet, N. 1992. Evolution et extinction des reptiles marins au cours du Ḿesozoique. Paleovertebrata 24:177-283.
8. Bardet, N. 1994. Extinction events among Mesozoic marine reptiles. Historical Biology 7:313-324.
9. Bardet, N., P. Godefroit, and J. Sciau. 1999. A new elasmosaurid plesiosaur from the Lower Jurassic of southern France. Palaeontology 42:927-952. (Pubitemid 30037488)
10. Barrett, L. 1859. On the atlas and axis of the Plesiosaurus. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 3:361-364.
11. Benson, R. B. J., R. J. Butler, J. Lindgren, and A. S. Smith. 2010. Mesozoic marine tetrapod diversity: mass extinctions and temporal heterogeneity in geological megabiases affecting vertebrates. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 277:829-834.
12. Benson, R. B. J., H. F. Ketchum, L. F. Nò e, and M. Gomez-Perez. In press. New information on Hauffiosaurus (Reptilia, Plesiosauria) based on a new species from the Alum Shale Member (Lower Toarcian: Lower Jurassic) of Yorkshire, UK. Palaeontology.
13. Benton, M. J., and P. S. Spencer. 1995. Fossil Reptiles of Great Britain. Chapman and Hall, London, 386 pp.
14. Blainville, H. D., de. 1835. Description de quelques esp̀eces de reptiles de la Californie, pŕećed́ee de l'analyse d'un syst ̀eme general d'Erpetologie et d'Amphibiologie. Nouvelles Annales du Muśeum (National) d'History Naturelle, Paris 4:233-296.
15. Brown, D. S. 1981. The EnglishUpper Jurassic Plesiosauroidea (Reptilia) and a review of the phylogeny and classification of the Plesiosauria. Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History, Geology Series 35:253-347.
16. Brown, D. S., and A. R. I. Cruickshank. 1994. The skull of the Callovian plesiosaur Cryptoclidus eurymerus, and the sauropterygian cheek. Palaeontology 37:941-953.
17. Caldwell, M. W. 1997. Limb osteology and ossification patterns in Cryptoclidus (Reptilia: Plesiosauroidea) with a review of sauropterygian limbs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 17:295-307.
18. Carpenter, K. 1996. A review of short-necked plesiosaurs from the Cretaceous of the Western Interior, North America. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Abhandlungen 201:259-287. (Pubitemid 126704026)
19. Carpenter, K. 1997. Comparative cranial anatomy of two North American Cretaceous plesiosaurs; pp. 191-216 in J. M. Callaway and E. L. Nicholls (eds.), Ancient Marine Reptiles. Academic Press, San Diego, California.
20. Cheng, Y.-N., T. Sato, X.-C. Wu, and C. Li. 2006. First complete pistosauroid from the Triassic of China. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26:501-504. (Pubitemid 43984315)
21. Conybeare, W. D. 1822. Additional notices on the fossil genera Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus. Transactions of the Geological Society of London, series 2 1:103-123.
22. Cruickshank, A. R. I. 1994a. Cranial anatomy of the Lower Jurassic pliosaur Rhomaleosaurus megacephalus (Stuchbury) (Reptilia: Plesiosauria). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 343:247-260.
23. Cruickshank, A. R. I. 1994b. A juvenile plesiosaur (Plesiosauria: Reptilia) from the Lower Lias (Hettangian: Lower Jurassic) of Lyme Regis, England: a pliosauroid-plesiosauroid intermediate? Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 112:151-178.
24. Cruickshank, A. R. I. 1996. The cranial anatomy of Rhomaleosaurus thorntoni Andrews (Reptilia, Plesiosauria). Bulletin of the Natural History Museum, Geology Series 52:109-114. (Pubitemid 126154689)
25. Cruickshank, A. R. I. 1997. A Lower Cretaceous pliosauroid from South Africa. Annals of the South African Museum 105:207-226.
26. Cruickshank, A. R. I., P. G. Small, andM.A. Taylor. 1991. Dorsal nostrils and hydrodynamically driven underwater olfaction in plesiosaurs. Nature 352:62-64. (Pubitemid 21896697)
27. Druckenmiller, P. S., and A. P. Russell. 2008a. A phylogeny of Plesiosauria (Sauropterygia) and its bearing on the systematic status of Leptocleidus Andrews, 1922. Zootaxa 1863:1-120.
28. Druckenmiller, P. S., and A. P. Russell. 2008b. Skeletal anatomy of an exceptionally complete specimen of a new genus of plesiosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Early Albian) of northeastern Alberta, Canada. Palaeontographica Abteilung A 283:1-33.
29. Elliott, J. C., and S. D. Dover. 1982. X-ray microtomography. Journal of Microscopy 126:211-213. (Pubitemid 12066564)
30. Evans, M. 1999. A new reconstruction of the skull of the Callovian elasmosaurid plesiosaur Muraenosaurus leedsii Seeley. Mercian Geologist 14:191-196.
31. Gradstein, F. M., J. G. Ogg, and A. G. Smith. 2005. A Geologic Time Scale 2004. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K., 610 pp.
32. Großmann, F. 2007. The taxonomic and phylogenetic position of the Plesiosauroidea from the Lower Jurassic Posidonia Shale of South- West Germany. Palaeontology 50:545-564. (Pubitemid 46831299)
33. Hawkins, T. H. 1834. Memoirs on Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri. Relfe and Fletcher, London, 58 pp.
34. Hawkins, T. H. 1840. The Book of the Great Sea-Dragons, Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri, Gedolim Taninim of Moses. William Pickering, London, 27 pp.
35. Hulke, J. W. 1883. The anniversary address of the president. Proceedings of the Geological Society 39:38-65.
36. Huxley, T. H. 1858. On a new species of the Plesiosaurus from Street, near Glastonbury; with remarks on the structure of the atlas and axis vertebrae, and of the cranium in that genus. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London 14:281-294.
37. International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. 1999. International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Fourth Edition. International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature, London, 306 pp.
38. Kear, B. P. 2005. A new elasmosaurid plesiosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Queensland, Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 25:792-805. (Pubitemid 43204876)
39. Kear, B. P. 2007. Taxonomic clarification of the Australian elasmosaurid genus Eromangasaurus, with reference to other austral elasmosaur taxa. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27:241-246. (Pubitemid 46542329)
40. Kear, B. P., N. I. Schroeder, and M. S. Y. Lee. 2006. An archaic crested plesiosaur in opal from the Lower Cretaceous high-latitude deposits of Australia. Biology Letters 2:615-619. (Pubitemid 44935446)
41. Ketchum, H. F., and R. B. J. Benson. 2010. Global interrelationships of Plesiosauria (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) and the pivotal role of taxon sampling in determining the outcome of phylogenetic analyses. Biological Reviews 85:361-392.
42. Ketchum, H. F., and R. B. J. Benson. In press a. The cranial anatomy and taxonomy of Peloneustes philarchus (Sauropterygia, Pliosauridae) from the Peterborough Member (Callovian, Middle Jurassic) of the UK. Palaeontology.
43. Ketchum, H. F., and R. B. J. Benson. In press b. A new pliosaurid (Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria) from the Oxford Clay Formation (Middle Jurassic, Callovian) of England: evidence for a gracile, longirostrine grade of Early-Middle Jurassic pliosaurids. Special Papers in Palaeontology.
44. Ketchum, H. F., and A. S. Smith. 2010. The anatomy and taxonomy of Macroplata tenuiceps (Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria) from the Hettangian (Lower Jurassic) of Warwickshire, United Kingdom. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30:1069-1081.
45. Lydekker, R. 1889. Catalogue of the fossil Reptilia and Amphibia in the British Museum (Natural History). Part II. Containing the orders Ichthyopterygia and Sauropterygia. British Museum (Natural History), London, 307 pp.
46. Maisch, M. W. 1998. Notes on the cranial osteology of Muraenosaurus Seeley, 1874 (Sauropterygia, Jurassic), with special reference to the neurocranium and its implications for sauropterygian phylogeny. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen, 207:207-253. (Pubitemid 128506592)
47. Maisch, M. W., and M. Rücklin. 2000. Cranial osteology of the sauropterygian Plesiosaurus brachypterygius from the Lower Toarcian of Germany. Paleontology 43:29-40. (Pubitemid 30308155)
48. Massare, J. A. 1987. Tooth morphology and prey preference of Mesozoic marine reptiles. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 7:121-137.
49. Mummery, P. M., B. Derby, P. Anderson, G. R. Davis, and J. C. Elliott. 1995. X-ray microtomographic studies of metalmatrix composites using laboratory X-ray sources. Journal of Microscopy 177:399-406.
50. Nichols, J. 1795-1815. The History and Antiquities of the County of Leicestershire. The author, London, 4 volumes.
51. Nò e, L. F., J. Liston, and M. Evans. 2003. The first relatively complete exoccipital-opisthotic from the braincase of the Callovian pliosaur, Liopleurodon. Geological Magazine 140:479-486. (Pubitemid 37124147)
52. O'Keefe, F. R. 2001. A cladistic analysis and taxonomic revision of the Plesiosauria (Reptilia: Sauropterygia). Acta Zoologica Fennica 213:1-63.
53. O'Keefe, F. R. 2002. The evolution of plesiosaur and pliosaur morphotypes in the Plesiosauria (Reptilia: Sauropterygia). Paleobiology 28:101-112. (Pubitemid 34458700)
54. O'Keefe, F. R. 2004a. Cranial anatomy of the polycotylid plesiosaurs, including newmaterial of Polycotylus latipinnis, Cope, fromAlabama. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 24:326-340. (Pubitemid 38908363)
55. O'Keefe, F. R. 2004b. Preliminary description and phylogenetic position of a new plesiosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Toarcian of Holzmaden, Germany. Journal of Paleontology 78:973-988. (Pubitemid 39138821)
56. O'Keefe, F. R. 2006. Neoteny and the plesiomorphic condition of the plesiosaur basicranium; pp. 391-409 in M. T. Carrano, T. J. Gaudin, R. W. Blob, and J. R. Wible (eds.), Amniote Paleobiology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois.
57. O'Keefe, F. R. 2008. Cranial anatomy and taxonomy of Dolichorhynchops bonneri new combination, a polycotylid (Sauropterygia: Plesiosauria) from the Pierre Shale of Wyoming and South Dakota. Journal of Verterbrate Paleontology 28:664-676.
58. O'Keefe, F. R., and M. T. Carrano. 2005. Correlated trends in the evolution of the plesiosaur locomotor system. Paleobiology 31:656-675. (Pubitemid 41520249)
59. Owen, R. 1838. A description of a specimen of the Plesiosaurus macrocephalus, Conybeare, in the collection of Viscount Cole, M.P., D.C.L., F.G.S., &c. Transactions of the Geological Society of London, series 2 5:515-535.
60. Owen, R. 1860. On the orders of fossil and Recent Reptilia, and their distribution through time. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 1859:153-166.
61. Owen, R. 1865-1881. A monograph on the fossil Reptilia of the Liassic formations. Part III. Plesiosaurus, Dimorphodon, and Ichthyosaurus. Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society 35(166):1-134.
62. Pinna, G. The cast of Plesiosaurus hawkinsi of the Lower Lias from Lyme Regis, England exhibited in the Natural History Museum of Milan, Italy. Natura (Milan) 65:49-52.
63. Rieppel, O. 1994. The braincases of Simosaurus and Nothosaurus: monophyly of the Nothosauridae (Reptilia: Sauropterygia). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 14:9-23.
64. Rieppel, O. 2000. Sauropterygia 1. Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology 12A:1-134.
65. Rieppel, O., and Werneberg, R. 1998. A new species of the sauropterygian Cymatosaurus from the LowerMuschelkalk of Thuringia, Germany. Palaeontology 41:575-589. (Pubitemid 28469621)
66. Rieppel, O., P. M. Sander, and G. W. Storrs. 2002. The skull of the pistosaur Augustasaurus from the Middle Triassic of northwestern Nevada. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22:577-592. (Pubitemid 35206048)
67. Sander, P. M., O. Rieppel, and H. Bucher. 1997. A new pistosaurid (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Middle Triassic of Nevada and its implications for the origin of plesiosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 17:526-533.
68. Sato, T. 2003. Terminonatator pontiexensis, a new elasmosaur (Reptilia; Sauropterygia) from the Upper Cretaceous of Saskatchewan. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 23:89-103. (Pubitemid 36650103)
69. Sato, T. 2005. A new polycotylid plesiosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Upper Cretaceous Bearpaw Formation in Saskatchewan, Canada. Journal of Paleontology 79:969-980. (Pubitemid 41276567)
70. Sato, T., C. Li, and X.-C. Wu. 2003. Restudy of Bishanpliosaurus youngi Dong, 1980, a fresh water plesiosaurian from the Jurassic of Chongqing. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 41:17-33.
71. Seeley, H. G. 1865a. On two new plesiosaurs, from the Lias. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 3 16:352-359.
72. Seeley, H. G. 1865b. On Plesiosaurus macropterus, a new species from the Lias of Whitby. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 3 15:49-53.
73. Seeley, H. G. 1874. Note on the generic modifications of the plesiosaurian pectoral arch. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London 30:436-449.
74. Smith, A. S., and G. J. Dyke. 2008. The skull of the giant predatory pliosaur Rhomaleosaurus cramptoni: implications for plesiosaur phylogenetics. Naturwissenschaften 95:975-980.
75. Smith, A. S., and P. Vincent. 2010. A new genus of pliosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Lower Jurassic of Holzmaden, Germany. Palaeontology 53:1049-1063.
76. Storrs, G. W. 1991. Anatomy and relationships of Corosaurus alcovensis (Diapsida: Sauropterygia) and the Triassic Alcova Limestone of Wyoming. Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 44:1-151.
77. Storrs, G. W. 1994a. Fossil vertebrate faunas of the British Rhaetian (latest Triassic). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 112:217-259.
78. Storrs, G. W. 1994b. A new Trassic plesiosaur based upon historical material from the lowermost Lias (Rhaetian) of Street, Somerset, England. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 14(3, Supplement):48A.
79. Storrs, G. W. 1997. Morphological and taxonomic clarification of the genus Plesiosaurus; pp. 145-191 in J. M. Callaway and E. L. Nicholls (eds.), Ancient Marine Reptiles. Academic Press, San Diego, California.
80. Storrs, G. W., and M. A. Taylor. 1996. Cranial anatomy of a new plesiosaur genus from the lowermost Lias (Rhaetian/Hettangian) of Street, Somerset, England. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 16:403-420.
81. Sues, H.-D. 1987. Postcranial skeleton of Pistosaurus and interrelationships of the Sauropterygia (Diapsida). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society of London 90:109-131.
82. Tanner, L. H., S. G. Lucas, and M. G. Chapman. 2004. Assessing the record and causes of Late Triassic extinctions. Earth Science Reviews 65:103-139. (Pubitemid 38335599)
83. Tarlo, L. B. 1960. A review of the Upper Jurassic pliosaurs. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology 14:145-189.
84. Taylor, M. A. 1992. Functional anatomy of the head of the large aquatic predator Rhomaleosaurus zetlandicus (Plesiosauria, Reptilia) from the Toarcian (Lower Jurassic) of Yorkshire, England. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 335:247-280.
85. Taylor, M. A., and A. R. I. Cruickshank. 1993a. A plesiosaur from the Linksfield Erratic (Rhaetian, Upper Triassic) near Elgin, Morayshire. Scottish Journal of Geology 29:191-196. (Pubitemid 24421384)
86. Taylor, M. A., and A. R. I. Cruickshank. 1993b. Cranial anatomy and functional morphology of Pliosaurus brachyspondylus (Reptilia: Plesiosauria) from the Upper Jurassic ofWestbury, Wiltshire. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Socity of London B, Biological Sciences 341:399-418.
87. Warrington, G., and H.-C. Ivimey-Cook. 1990. Biostratigraphy of the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic: a review of type sections in southern Britain. Cahiers Universit́e Catholique du Lyon Ś eries Scientifique 3:207-213.
88. Warrington, G., J. C. W. Cope, and H.-C. Ivimey-Cook. 1994. St. Audrie's Bay, Somerset, England: a candidate Global Stratotype Section and Point for the base of the Jurassic System. Geological Magazine 131:191-200. (Pubitemid 24424855)
89. Wegner, T. 1914. Brancasaurus brancai n. g. n. sp., ein Elasmosauride aus Wealden Westfalens; pp. 235-302 in F. Scheondorf (ed.), Branca- Festschrift 9. Verlag von Gebrüder Borntraeger, Leipzig, Germany.
90. Welles, S. P. 1943. Elasmosaurid plesiosaurs with description of new material from California and Colorado. Memoirs of the University of California 13:125-254.
91. White, T. E. 1940. Holotype of Plesiosaurus longirostris Blake and classification of the plesiosaurs. Journal of Paleontology 14:451-467.
92. Williston, S. W. 1903. North American plesiosaurs. Part 1. Field Columbian Museum Publication (Geology) 73(2):1-77.
93. Wright, T. 1860. On the zone of Avicula contorta, and the Lower Lias of the south of England. Quarterley Journal of the Geological Society, London 16:374-411.