Biology:Fluvionectes
Fluvionectes (meaning "river swimmer", from both Latin and Greek) is a genus of elasmosaurid plesiosaur found in the Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta, Canada.[1]
Description
The holotype specimen of Fluvionectes is a partial skeleton preserving an osteologically mature, likely a young adult individual that would have reached 5–5.2 m (16–17 ft) long and weighed 392 kilograms (864 lb).[1][2] A more mature, larger, but more fragmentary specimen (TMP 2009.037.0007) is also known, consisting of a partial rib and gastralium, and left humerus, indicating that this taxon may have reached 7 m (23 ft) in maximum body length. A number of other fragmentary specimens are also known.[1]
The holotype skeleton had 76 gastroliths, largely disc-shaped stones. All were composed of black chert and grey quartzite, the largest of which weighed 15.3 grams.[1][2]
Classification
The describers placed Fluvionectes in Elasmosauridae, in a clade with Albertonectes, Nakonanectes, Styxosaurus, and Terminonatator, which by definition places it in the Elasmosaurinae subfamily.[1]
Palaeoecology
Fluvionectes appears to have been a freshwater and brackish water animal based on its discovery from a non-marine to paralic sedimentary unit. Both the holotype and the largest specimen (TMP 2009.037.0007) were found in brackish estuarine deposits, but a number of other specimens were found in nearby freshwater fluvial deposits. This is significantly different in contrast to most elasmosaurs which were oceanic.[1]
Other fossils associated with the holotype specimen included the turtle Kimurachelys slobodae and the rhinobatoid ray Myledaphus. Three dinoflagellates were also found, suggesting a marine influenced environment, although their low abundance and diversity suggests that it was not an open-marine environment.[1]
The holotype was discovered alongside many pieces of coalified wood, which is interpreted as the carcass having been caught in a log jam.[2]
Gallery
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References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Campbell, Mitchel, Ryan and Anderson, James A., Mark T., Michael J., Jason S. (2021). "A new elasmosaurid (Sauropterygia: Plesiosauria) from the non-marine to paralic Dinosaur Park Formation of southern Alberta, Canada". PeerJ 9. doi:10.7717/peerj.10720. PMID 33614274.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Henderson, Donald M. (2024-08-28). "Lost, hidden, broken, cut-estimating and interpreting the shapes and masses of damaged assemblages of plesiosaur gastroliths" (in en). PeerJ 12. doi:10.7717/peerj.17925. ISSN 2167-8359. PMID 39234235.
Template:Sauropterygia Wikidata ☰ Q105581523 entry
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