Biology:Jucha
| Jucha | |
|---|---|
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| Life restoration | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
| Order: | †Plesiosauria |
| Family: | †Elasmosauridae |
| Genus: | †Jucha Fischer et al., 2020 |
| Species: | †J. squalea
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| Binomial name | |
| †Jucha squalea Fischer et al., 2020
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Jucha is an extinct genus of plesiosaur found in the Hauterivian (Early Cretaceous) Klimovka Formation of Russia . The type species, J. squalea, was one of the basalmost and oldest definitive elasmosaurs known to date[1] (it may have been the oldest considering the Late Triassic Alexeyisaurus was not an elasmosaur).[2]
Discovery and naming
The holotype, housed on display at the Undorov Pleontological Museum, was discovered in 2007 in a layer of the Klimovka Formation in the vicinity of the Slantsevy Rudnik village near Ulyanovsk, European Russia.[3] The holotype was preserved in a mineral crust composed of mainly pyrite, hence the epithet name squalea (the genus is named after Jucha, a girl in Turkic demonology who has snake skin and can turn into a dragon, having lived for a thousand years, and while caring for his hair, he can take off his head - this is how the lack of a skull in the holotype played a role in the etymology of the genus name).[3] The species Jucha squalea was described in 2020 by Fisher et al.[1]
The holotype consists of 17 cervical vertebrae, 9 dorsal vertebrae and one isolated neural spine, four caudal vertebrae and parts of the forelimbs and hindlimbs.[1]
Description
When fully grown, Jucha grew up to around 5 metres (16 ft) long.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Valentin Fischer; Nikolay G. Zverkov; Maxim S. Arkhangelsky; Ilya M. Stenshin; Ivan V. Blagovetshensky; Gleb N. Uspensky (2020). "A new elasmosaurid plesiosaurian from the Early Cretaceous of Russia marks an early attempt at neck elongation". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 192 (4): 1167–1194. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa103. https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/251614.
- ↑ A. G. Sennikov, M. S. Arkhangelsky (2010). "On a Typical Jurassic Sauropterygian from the Upper Triassic of Wilczek Land (Franz Josef Land, Arctic Russia)". Paleontological Journal 44 (5): 567–572. doi:10.1134/S0031030110050126.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "New plesiosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of the Ulyanovsk Volga region [in Russian"]. The Russian Academy of Sciences Geological Institute. http://ginras.ru/news/news.php?uid=1733.
Wikidata ☰ Q100673073 entry
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