Yuzhoupliosaurus is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the Middle Jurassic of China. The genus is known only from a lower jaw, a vertebra, and fragments of a pectoral girdle. It is believed this genus lived in fresh water.
| Yuzhoupliosaurus Temporal range:
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|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
| Order: | †Plesiosauria |
| Family: | †Rhomaleosauridae |
| Genus: | †Yuzhoupliosaurus Zhang, 1985 |
| Type species | |
| †Yuzhoupliosaurus chengjiangensis Zhang, 1985
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Etymology
editThe genus was named after Yuzhou (渝州), the previous name of Chongqing, a major city on the Yangtze River where the first fossil of Yuzhoupliosaurus was found.
Description
editPaleontologists believe Yuzhoupliosaurus to have been approximatively four meters long. The lower jaws contain five pairs of large teeth and 23 or 24 smaller teeth. The cervical vertebrae are considered "high and short". The anterior cervical ribs are double-headed while the posterior cervical ribs are single-headed. The coracoids are elongated and the clavicles are well-developed.
See also
editSources
edit- Zhang, Y (1985). "A new plesiosaur from Middle Jurassic of Sichuan Basin". Vertebrata PalAsiatica. 23: 235–240.
