Discosaurus is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the Santonian of Alabama and Mississippi.[1] One species is known, which is D. vestutus.
| Discosaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous,
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| Holotype vertebrae of D. vestutus | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
| Order: | †Plesiosauria |
| Family: | †Pliosauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Brachaucheninae |
| Genus: | †Discosaurus Leidy, 1851 |
| Type species | |
| †Discosaurus vetustus Leidy, 1851
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Discovery and naming
editThe holotype, eleven vertebrae, was discovered by Joseph Jones in Alabama and Mississippi, and was named and described as Discosaurus vestutus by Leidy (1851).[2] Two more specimens from New Jersey were described and were later re-classified as belonging to Cimoliasaurus magnus by Leidy (1870b).[3]
Leidy (1870b) later argued that Discosaurus was the same animal as Elasmosaurus.[3]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Bibliography and Catalogue of the Fossil Vertebrata of North America, Issue 179 by Oliver Perry Hay
- ^ Leidy, J. (1851). Descriptions of a number of fossil reptiles and mammals. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 5:325-328.
- ^ a b Leidy, J., (1870). Discosaurus and its allies. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil. 22:18-22.
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