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Aristonectes
Taxonomy
Aristonectes was named by Cabrera (1941) [Sepkoski's age data: K Maes Sepkoski's reference number: 1066].
It was assigned to Cimoliasauridae by Persson (1963); to Cryptoclididae by Brown (1981) and Carroll (1988); to Plesiosauria by Welles (1962) and Sepkoski (2002); to Elasmosauridae by Cabrera (1941), Gasparini et al. (2003), Ketchum and Benson (2010) and O'Gorman et al. (2013); to Aristonectinae by Otero et al. (2012), Otero and O'Gorman (2013), Otero et al. (2014), Benson and Druckenmiller (2014), Otero et al. (2015), Otero et al. (2015) and O'Gorman (2019); and to Aristonectinae by O'Gorman (2016), O'Gorman (2016), O'Gorman et al. (2019), O'Gorman et al. (2019) and Otero (2024).
It was assigned to Cimoliasauridae by Persson (1963); to Cryptoclididae by Brown (1981) and Carroll (1988); to Plesiosauria by Welles (1962) and Sepkoski (2002); to Elasmosauridae by Cabrera (1941), Gasparini et al. (2003), Ketchum and Benson (2010) and O'Gorman et al. (2013); to Aristonectinae by Otero et al. (2012), Otero and O'Gorman (2013), Otero et al. (2014), Benson and Druckenmiller (2014), Otero et al. (2015), Otero et al. (2015) and O'Gorman (2019); and to Aristonectinae by O'Gorman (2016), O'Gorman (2016), O'Gorman et al. (2019), O'Gorman et al. (2019) and Otero (2024).
Species
Synonyms
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Synonymy list
| Year | Name and author |
|---|---|
| 1941 | Aristonectes Cabrera pp. 114-129 figs. 1-6 |
| 1962 | Aristonectes Welles pp. 3 & 70 |
| 1963 | Aristonectes Persson p. 17 fig. 9 |
| 1981 | Aristonectes Brown p. 341 |
| 1988 | Aristonectes Carroll |
| 1989 | Turneria Chatterjee and Small p. 199 figs. 2-10 |
| 2002 | Aristonectes Sepkoski |
| 2002 | Turneria Sepkoski |
| 2003 | Aristonectes Gasparini et al. p. 105 |
| 2010 | Aristonectes Ketchum and Benson p. 15 |
| 2012 | Aristonectes Otero et al. |
| 2013 | Aristonectes O'Gorman et al. p. 76 |
| 2013 | Aristonectes Otero and O'Gorman |
| 2014 | Aristonectes Benson and Druckenmiller figs. 2-3 |
| 2014 | Aristonectes Otero et al. |
| 2015 | Aristonectes Otero et al. p. 3 |
| 2015 | Aristonectes Otero et al. p. 178 |
| 2016 | Aristonectes O'Gorman p. 41 |
| 2019 | Aristonectes O'Gorman |
| 2019 | Aristonectes O'Gorman et al. p. 215 |
| 2019 | Aristonectes O'Gorman et al. p. 40 |
| 2024 | Aristonectes Otero 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.
G. †Aristonectes Cabrera 1941
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†Aristonectes parvidens Cabrera 1941
†Aristonectes quiriquinensis Otero et al. 2014
Invalid names: Turneria Chatterjee and Small 1989 [synonym]
Diagnosis
| Reference | Diagnosis | |
|---|---|---|
| Z. Gasparini et al. 2003 | Ogive-shaped low and wide skull without premaxillary–maxillary constriction and with anteriorly dorsoventrally-flattened maxilla; homodont dentition composed of very numerous, strongly outwardly oriented alveoli and poorly ornamented teeth; dental formula: 10–13 premaxillary, 51–53 maxillary, and 60–65 dentary teeth; paired vomeronasal foramina; vomer with inverted M-shaped anterior suture; ogival mandible high anteriorly in lateral view with very short and high symphysis. | |
| R. A. Otero et al. 2014 | This diagnosis is modified from Gasparini et al. (2003a) and is restricted to the combination of characters that are common to A. parvidens and A. quiriquinensis sp. nov., but absent in all other Maastrichtian aristonectine plesiosaurians: large, slightly flattened, low and broad skull without premaxillary–maxillary constriction, differing from the high skull of Kaiwhekea katiki; gracile mandible with very short symphysis; homodont dentition with more than 50 procumbent alveoli; forelimb with high aspect ratio, and with elongated, spool-shaped phalanges having expanded articular facets. Anterior and middle cervical vertebrae with low average VLI (~80), but slightly high compared to Kaiwhekea katiki.
A second group of characters could be useful for differentiating Aristonectes from Kaiwhekea, although they are not known in all of the respective skulls: pineal foramen anteroposteriorly elongated in A. quiriquinensis sp. nov. (not preserved in the holotype of A. parvidens) different to the oval pineal foramen of Kaiwhekea; 10–13 premaxillary teeth (not preserved in A. quiriquinensis sp. nov. specimens) differing from the seven premaxillary teeth of Kaiwhekea; 50 or more teeth in the maxilla (not known in A. quiriquinensis sp. nov.) differing from the 36 teeth recorded in Kaiwhekea. The referred specimen of A. quiriquinensis sp. nov. (SGO.PV.260), confirms that the distinctive anterior caudal vertebrae are broader than high and higher than large, with an octagonal outline in articular view, as a potentially diagnostic character of the genus (O'Gorman et al., 2010). These were previously regarded as sacral vertebrae by Otero et al. (2012). Such features must be verified in Kaiwhekea. | |
| J. P. O'Gorman 2016 | Aristonectine elasmosaurid with large, at least slightly flattened and broad skull without premaxillary–maxillary constriction, differing from the high skull of Kaiwhekea katiki; gracile mandible with very short symphysis; homodont dentition with more than 50 mandibular procumbent alveoli. Anterior and middle cervical vertebrae with low average VLI (~80) though slightly higher than those of Kaiwhekea katiki. Additional features, although not found in all of the representative skulls, display differences between Aristonectes and Kaiwhekea: 13 premaxillary teeth (not preserved in A. quiriquinensis) as opposed to the seven premaxillary teeth of Kaiwhekea and 50 or more teeth in the maxilla (not found in A. quiriquinensis) differing from the 36 teeth recorded in Kaiwhekea. |
Measurements
No measurements are available
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| Source: o = order | |||||
| Reference: Kiessling 2004 | |||||
Age range: Late/Upper Maastrichtian or 70.60000 to 66.00000 Ma
Collections (10 total)
| Time interval | Ma | Country or state | Original ID and collection number |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late/Upper Campanian - Maastrichtian | Argentina (Río Negro) | Plesiosauria indet. (51583) | |
| Maastrichtian | Antarctica (Seymour Island) | A. sp. (63513) | |
| Late/Upper Maastrichtian | Argentina (Chubut) | A. parvidens (97872) | |
| Late/Upper Maastrichtian | Chile (Concepción) | A. parvidens (118945) | |
| Late/Upper Maastrichtian | Chile (Biobio) | A. sp. (150921) | |
| Late/Upper Maastrichtian | Chile (Puerto Natales) | A. sp. (208356) | |
| Late/Upper Maastrichtian | Chile | Aristonectinae indet., Mauisaurus sp. (91416) | |
| Late/Upper Maastrichtian | Antarctica | A. parvidens (140323) A. sp. (232357) Turneria seymourensis (13106) |