Cryptoclidus
{{Short description|Extinct genus of reptiles}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Italic title}}
{{automatic taxobox
| name = Cryptoclidus
| image = Plesiosaur at the American Museum of Natural History.jpg
| image_caption = Skeletal mount at the American Museum of Natural History
| fossil_range = Middle Jurassic to Late Jurassic (Callovian to Oxfordian), {{fossilrange|166|160}}
| taxon = Cryptoclidus
| authority = Seeley, 1892
| type_species_authority = Phillips, 1871
| subdivision = * C. eurymerus {{small|Phillips, 1871 (type)}}
- C. richardsoni {{small|Lydekker, 1889}}
| type_species = {{extinct}}Plesiosaurus eurymerus
| synonyms = * Apractocleidus {{small|Smellie, 1915}}
- Plesiosaurus eurymerus {{small|Phillips, 1871}}
}}
Cryptoclidus ({{IPAc-en|k|r|ɪ|p|t|oʊ-|ˈ|k|l|aɪ|d|ə|s}} {{respell|krip|toh|KLY|dəs}}) is a genus of plesiosaur reptile from the Middle Jurassic period of England, France, and Cuba.Brown, David S., and Arthur RI Cruickshank. {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20140324113057/http://www.palass-pubs.org/palaeontology/pdf/Vol37/Pages%20941-953.pdf The skull of the Callovian plesiosaur Cryptoclidus eurymerus, and the sauropterygian cheek.]}} Palaeontology 37.4 (1994): 941.
Discovery
File:Cryptoclidus AMNH.jpg 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).{{Cite journal |last=Seeley |first=Harry G. |date=1892 |title=The nature of the shoulder girdle and clavicular arch in sauropterygia |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspl.1892.0017 |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London |volume=51 |issue=308-314 |pages=119–151 |doi=10.1098/rspl.1892.0017 |issn=0370-1662}}
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.[https://web.archive.org/web/20220515175404/http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=collectionSearch&taxon_no=36466&max_interval=Jurassic&country=France&is_real_user=1&basic=yes&type=view&match_subgenera=1 Bologne-sur-Mer] at Fossilworks.org Cryptoclidus vignalensis, which is now considered undiagnostic,{{cite journal|last1=Iturralde-Vinent|first1=M.|last2=Norell|first2=M.A.|year=1996|journal=American Museum Novitates|title=Synopsis of Late Jurassic Marine Reptiles from Cuba|issue=3164|pages=1–17|url=https://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstream/handle/2246/3681/N3164.pdf?sequence=1|s2cid=56459152}} hails from the Jagua Formation of western Cuba.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.
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,{{cite book|year=2016|author=Shmakov A. S.|url=http://www.ginras.ru/materials/files/paleostrat2016.pdf#page=88|title=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)]|publisher=М.: ПИН РАН|page=86|lang=ru|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231103220552/http://www.ginras.ru/materials/files/paleostrat2016.pdf#page=88|archive-date=2023-11-03|url-status=live}} but later Zverkov et al. defined it as an intedermitate cryptoclidid.{{cite book|author=Zverkov N. G., Shmakov A. S., Arkhangelsky M. S.|year=2017|url=http://cretaceous.ru/files/pub/people/arkhangelsky/zverkovetal.2017.pdf|title=Jurassic marine reptiles of Moscow and surroundings (in "Jurassic deposits and fauna of the southern part of the Moscow Syneclyse")|publisher=GEOS|page=230-263|isbn=978-5-89118-754-2|issn=0002-3272|lang=ru|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314052116/http://cretaceous.ru/files/pub/people/arkhangelsky/zverkovetal.2017.pdf|archive-date=2022-03-14|url-status=live}}
Description
File:Cryptoclidus NT small.jpg
Cryptoclidus was a medium-sized plesiosaur, with the largest individuals measuring up to {{cvt|4|m|ft}} long and weighing about {{cvt|737|-|756|kg|lb}}.{{cite journal|author=Brown, D. S. |year=1981 |title=The English Upper Jurassic Plesiosauridea (Reptilia) and a review of the phylogeny and classification of the Plesiosauria |journal=Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=253–347}}{{cite journal|author=Motani, R.|year=2002|title=Swimming speed estimation of extinct marine reptiles: energetic approach revisited|journal=Paleobiology|volume=28|issue=2|pages=251–262|doi=10.1666/0094-8373(2002)028<0251:sseoem>2.0.co;2|s2cid=56387158 }} 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.{{cite book |editor=Palmer, D.|year=1999 |title= The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals|publisher= Marshall Editions|location=London|page= 75|isbn= 1-84028-152-9}}
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.Brown and Cruickshank, 1994
Classification
File:Cryptoclidus eurymerus Tubingen.JPG, with the fore and hindlimbs swapped{{cite journal|last1=Krahl|first1=A.|last2=Smith|first2=A.S.|last3=Werneburg|first3=I.|title=Historically transposed flipper pairs in a mounted plesiosaurian skeleton|journal=PalZ|volume=96|pages=805–813|year=2022|doi=10.1007/s12542-022-00616-8}}]]
The cladogram below follows the topology from Benson et al. (2012) analysis.{{Cite journal | last1 = Benson | first1 = R. B. J. | last2 = Evans | first2 = M. | last3 = Druckenmiller | first3 = P. S. | editor1-last = Lalueza-Fox | editor1-first = Carles | title = High Diversity, Low Disparity and Small Body Size in Plesiosaurs (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) from the Triassic–Jurassic Boundary | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0031838 | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 7 | issue = 3 | pages = e31838 | year = 2012 | pmid = 22438869| pmc =3306369 | bibcode = 2012PLoSO...731838B | doi-access = free }}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- Z. Gasparini and L. Spaletti. 1993. First Callovian plesiosaurs from the Neuquen Basin, Argentina. Ameghiniana 30(3):245-254
External links
{{Commons category|Cryptoclidus}}
{{Wikispecies|Cryptoclidus}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070715005226/http://www.palaeos.com/Vertebrates/Units/220Lepidosauromorpha/220.800.html Paleos Vertebrates - Cryptocleidoidea]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080918220040/http://www.dinosauria.com/dml/names/ples.html Plesiosaur names and Pronunciation guide]
{{Plesiosauria|Plesiosauroidea}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q131153}}
Category:Middle Jurassic plesiosaurs of Europe
Category:Fossil taxa described in 1892