Arthur R I Cruickshank

John A. Long

Academic paper

Draft Paper

It is proposed that the division of the Plesiosauria into two superfamilies (Pliosauroidea: Plesiosauroidea) is better rationalised on their contrasting feeding habits, and not on ill-defined ratios or relative sizes of portions of their cranial and postcranial anatomy. The derivation of contrasting feeding patterns can be explained by the separation of adults and juveniles during ontogenetic development of the latter, and then fixing these patterns by heterochronic processes.

English