Biology:Cryptoclidus

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Cryptoclidus (/krɪptoʊˈklaɪdəs/ krip-toh-KLY-dəs) is a genus of plesiosaur reptile from the Middle Jurassic period of England, France, and Cuba.[1]

Discovery

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Skeleton AMNH 995

Cryptoclidus was a plesiosaur whose specimens include adult and juvenile skeletons, and remains which have been found in various degrees of preservation in England, Northern France, Russia, and South America. Its name, meaning "hidden clavicles", refer to its small, practically invisible clavicles buried in its front limb girdle.

The type species was initially described as Plesiosaurus eurymerus. The specific name "wide femur" refers to the forelimb, which was mistaken for a hindlimb at the time. It was moved to its own genus Cryptoclidus by Seeley (1892).[2]

Fossils of Cryptoclidus have been found in the Oxford Clay of Cambridgeshire, England. The dubious species Cryptoclidus beaugrandi is known from Kimmeridgian-age deposits in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.[3] Cryptoclidus vignalensis, which is now considered undiagnostic,[4] hails from the Jagua Formation of western Cuba.[5]

In 2016, there was a report about a fragmentary Cryptoclidus postcranial skeleton from the Callovian deposits of Nikitino village in Spassky District, Ryazan Oblast, Russia,[6] but later Zverkov et al. defined it as an intedermitate cryptoclidid.[7]

Description

Life reconstruction of C. eurymerus

Cryptoclidus was a medium-sized plesiosaur, with the largest individuals measuring up to 4 m (13 ft) long and weighing about 737–756 kg (1,625–1,667 lb).[8][9] The fragile build of the head and teeth preclude any grappling with prey, and suggest a diet of small, soft-bodied animals such as squid and shoaling fish. Cryptoclidus may have used its long, intermeshing teeth to strain small prey from the water, or perhaps sift through sediment for buried animals.[10]

The size and shape of the nares and nasal openings have led Brown and Cruickshank (1994) to argue that they were used to sample seawater for smells and chemical traces.[11]

Classification

Life restoration of C. oxoniensis, currently considered a dubious species synonymous with C. eurymerus[8]
Cast of a fossil skeleton, University of Tübingen, with the fore and hindlimbs swapped[12]

The cladogram below follows the topology from Benson et al. (2012) analysis.[13]

Pistosauria
 

"Pistosaurus postcranium"

 
 

Pistosaurus

 
 

Yunguisaurus liae

 
 
 

Augustasaurus hagdorni

 
Plesiosauria
 

Bobosaurus forojuliensis

 
 
 

NHMUK 49202 [now Anningasaura lymense]

 
 
 

Rhomaleosauridae

 
Neoplesiosauria
Pliosauridae
 

Thalassiodracon hawkinsii

 
 
 

Hauffiosaurus spp.

 
 
 

Attenborosaurus conybeari

 
 

advanced pliosaurids (Peloneustes)

 
 
 
 
Plesiosauroidea
 

Eoplesiosaurus antiquior

 
 
 

Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus

 
 
 
 

Plesiopterys wildi

 
 

Cryptoclidus eurymerus

 
 
Microcleididae
 

Eretmosaurus rugosus

 
 

Westphaliasaurus simonsensii

 
 
 

Seeleyosaurus guilelmiimperatoris

 
 
 

Microcleidus tournemiensis

 
 
 

Microcleidus brachypterygius

 
 

Microcleidus homalospondylus

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

See also

References

  1. ↑ Brown, David S., and Arthur RI Cruickshank. The skull of the Callovian plesiosaur Cryptoclidus eurymerus, and the sauropterygian cheek.[Usurped!] Palaeontology 37.4 (1994): 941.
  2. ↑ Seeley, Harry G. (1892). "The nature of the shoulder girdle and clavicular arch in sauropterygia". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 51 (308-314): 119–151. doi:10.1098/rspl.1892.0017. ISSN 0370-1662. 
  3. ↑ Bologne-sur-Mer at Fossilworks.org
  4. ↑ Iturralde-Vinent, M.; Norell, M.A. (1996). "Synopsis of Late Jurassic Marine Reptiles from Cuba". American Museum Novitates (3164): 1–17. https://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstream/handle/2246/3681/N3164.pdf?sequence=1. 
  5. ↑ De la Torre, R., and A. A. Cuervo. (1939). Dos nuevas especies de ichthyosaurios del Jurisico de Vinales. Universidad de La Habana, Depto. Geol. y Paleont. pp. 1-9.
  6. ↑ Shmakov A. S. (2016). О находке остатков плезиозавра (Reptilia, Plesiosauria) в келловее Никитино (Спасский район, Рязанская область) [On a plesiosaur (Reptilia, Plesiosauria) finding in Callovian of Nikitino (Spassky District, Ryazan Oblast)]. М.: ПИН РАН. p. 86. http://www.ginras.ru/materials/files/paleostrat2016.pdf#page=88. 
  7. ↑ Zverkov N. G., Shmakov A. S., Arkhangelsky M. S. (2017). Jurassic marine reptiles of Moscow and surroundings (in "Jurassic deposits and fauna of the southern part of the Moscow Syneclyse"). GEOS. p. 230-263. ISBN 978-5-89118-754-2. http://cretaceous.ru/files/pub/people/arkhangelsky/zverkovetal.2017.pdf. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Brown, D. S. (1981). "The English Upper Jurassic Plesiosauridea (Reptilia) and a review of the phylogeny and classification of the Plesiosauria". Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History 35 (4): 253–347. 
  9. ↑ Motani, R. (2002). "Swimming speed estimation of extinct marine reptiles: energetic approach revisited". Paleobiology 28 (2): 251–262. doi:10.1666/0094-8373(2002)028<0251:sseoem>2.0.co;2. 
  10. ↑ Palmer, D., ed (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 75. ISBN 1-84028-152-9. 
  11. ↑ Brown and Cruickshank, 1994
  12. ↑ Krahl, A.; Smith, A.S.; Werneburg, I. (2022). "Historically transposed flipper pairs in a mounted plesiosaurian skeleton". PalZ 96: 805–813. doi:10.1007/s12542-022-00616-8. 
  13. ↑ Benson, R. B. J.; Evans, M.; Druckenmiller, P. S. (2012). Lalueza-Fox, Carles. ed. "High Diversity, Low Disparity and Small Body Size in Plesiosaurs (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) from the Triassic–Jurassic Boundary". PLOS ONE 7 (3). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0031838. PMID 22438869. Bibcode: 2012PLoSO...731838B. 

Further reading

  • Z. Gasparini and L. Spaletti. 1993. First Callovian plesiosaurs from the Neuquen Basin, Argentina. Ameghiniana 30(3):245-254

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