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Plesiosaurus coelospondylus

Osteichthyes - Plesiosauria

Taxonomy
Plesiosaurus coelospondylus was named by Owen (1865). Its type specimen is Whitby Museum specimen, not lost, a set of vertebrae (sixteen consecutive cervical vertebrae), and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Whitby, alum works rubbish heap, which is in a Toarcian marine shale in the United Kingdom.

Sister species lacking formal opinion data
P. dibothrius, P. holmerii, P. morinicus, P. neocomensis, P. pectopleuron
Entered
by R. Benson on 2011-10-14; modified by R. Benson on 2013-10-27

Synonymy list
YearName and author
1842Plesiosaurus coelospondylus Owen
1865Plesiosaurus coelospondylus Owen p. 12
1876Plesiosaurus coelospondylus Tate and Blake p. 252

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RankNameAuthor
kingdomAnimalia()
—Bilateria
—EubilateriaAx 1987
—Deuterostomia
phylumChordataHaeckel 1874
subphylumVertebrata
superclassGnathostomata
classOsteichthyes
subclassSarcopterygii()
subclassDipnotetrapodomorpha(Nelson 2006)
subclassTetrapodomorpha()
—Tetrapoda
—Reptiliomorpha
—Anthracosauria
RankNameAuthor
subclassAmphibiosauriaKuhn 1967
—Cotylosauria()
—Amniota
—Sauropsida
classReptilia
subclassEureptilia()
—Romeriida
—Diapsida()
suborderSauropterygia
orderPlesiosauriade Blainville 1835
superfamilyPlesiosauroideaWelles 1943
genusPlesiosaurus
speciescoelospondylus

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

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Diagnosis
ReferenceDiagnosis
Owen 1842Characterised by unusual concavity of the terminal articular surfaces of the centrum. on making a section of two of thee vertebrae cemented by the matrix in their natural state of co-adaptation, the margins of the opposed articular surfaces were two lines apart, showing the thicknesss of the inter-articular connecting ligamentous substance at that part, while the middle of the articular surfaces left an interval of eleven lines, thus approaching the ichthyosaurian type of vertebral union. The following were the dimensions of the centrum of these cervicals: length, 1 inch, 9 lines, breadth of articular surfaces, 1 inch, ii lines, height of ditto, 1 inch, 10 lines. The inferior surface of the centrum showed a median convex longitudinal ridge between the two wide elliptical venous foramina. I named the species indicated by these vertebrae Plesiosaurus coelospondylus, in reference to the hollow terminal articular surfaces. i hope to have, at a future opportunity, further means of illustrating this species.