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| Morphology | Ecology and taphonomy | External Literature Search | Age range and collections |
Traskasaura
Taxonomy
Traskasaura was named by O’Keefe et al. (2025). Its type is Traskasaura sandrae.
It was assigned to Elasmosauridae by O’Keefe et al. (2025).
It was assigned to Elasmosauridae by O’Keefe et al. (2025).
Species
T. sandrae (type species)
Synonymy list
| Year | Name and author |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Traskasaura O’Keefe et al. p. 4 |
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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.
Diagnosis
| Reference | Diagnosis | |
|---|---|---|
| F. R. O’Keefe et al. 2025 | Traskasaura sandrae possesses the following autapomorphic features that are unique to the taxon: teeth round with prominent longitudinal striations around entire circumference; ribs of anterior and middle cervical centra originate closer to posterior face of centrum, and trend anteriorly; glenoid surface of coracoid wide, and facing ventrally as well as laterally; cardiform recess of coracoid small and limited to posterior region of coracoid, but remaining round, unlike the condition in Aristonectes, resulting in a posterior process of the coracoid that is both long and wide; humerus shaft straight, with both the proximal and distal articulations (common plane of the epipodial articulations) at 90 to
shaft; large prearticular facet on radial edge of humerus that makes a 90 angle with the radial articulation; well-developed articular facet for a postaxial element posterior to the ulnar articulation, crescent-shaped in adult; articulation for preaxial element anterior to the tibia on the femur; both humerus and femur with pronounced ventral camber in distal view (shared by the epipodial row where known). Cladistic characters from the phylogenetic analysis identified as local autapomorphies of Traskasaura sandrae are: alveolar margin of upper jaw with scalloped margin (13, 0! 1); pterygoid lateral to posterior inter-pterygoid vacuities forms ventrolaterally directed flange oriented posteromedially (not dished) (100, 2! 1); length of retroarticular process short (116 1! 0); anterior teeth round in cross-section (139, 2! 0); proportions of anterior and middle cervical centra much longer than high (153, 1! 3); length to height ratio of caudal centra greater than 0.85 (190, 1! 0); ilium shaft straight, with no curvature (221, 1! 0); ilium midshaft tubercle absent (225, 1! 0); ratio of ilium length to minimum anteroposterior width (227, 2! 1); axis of distal flippers at angle to axis of propodeal shafts due to relatively small ulna and fibula (237, 0! 1); humerus length to width ratio less than 1.4 (244, 3! 4); preaxial expansion of distal humerus wide, comparable to postaxial expansion (245,1 ! 2). |