A plesiosaur (
/ˈpliːsiəsɔər/; Greek: plēsios/πλησιος 'near' or 'close to' and sauros/σαυρος 'lizard') was a type of carnivorous aquatic (mostly marine) reptile. After their discovery, plesiosaurs were somewhat fancifully said to have resembled "a snake threaded through the shell of a turtle",[1] although they had no shell. The common name "plesiosaur" is applied both to the "true" plesiosaurs (Superfamily Plesiosauroidea), which include both long-necked (elasmosaurs) and short-necked (polycotylid) forms, and to the larger taxonomic rank of Plesiosauria, which includes the pliosaurs.[2] The pliosaurs were the short-necked, large-headed plesiosaurians that were the apex predators for much of the Mesozoic.
/ˈpliːsiəsɔər/; Greek: plēsios/πλησιος 'near' or 'close to' and sauros/σαυρος 'lizard') was a type of carnivorous aquatic (mostly marine) reptile. After their discovery, plesiosaurs were somewhat fancifully said to have resembled "a snake threaded through the shell of a turtle",[1] although they had no shell. The common name "plesiosaur" is applied both to the "true" plesiosaurs (Superfamily Plesiosauroidea), which include both long-necked (elasmosaurs) and short-necked (polycotylid) forms, and to the larger taxonomic rank of Plesiosauria, which includes the pliosaurs.[2] The pliosaurs were the short-necked, large-headed plesiosaurians that were the apex predators for much of the Mesozoic.Plesiosaurs (sensu Plesiosauroidea) appeared at the end of the Triassic Period and thrived until the K-T extinction, at the end of theCretaceous Period. While they were Mesozoic diapsid reptiles that lived at the same time as dinosaurs, they were not dinosaurs.Gastroliths are frequently found associated with plesiosaurs.[3]
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