References
Reference
Cruickshank, Arthur R I (1997) A Lower Cretaceous pliosauroid from South Africa; Annals of the South African Museum, 105(2), pp.207-226
A Lower Cretaceous pliosauroid from South Africa
Principal Author
Arthur R I Cruickshank
Header
Academic paper
Journal
Annals of the South African Museum
Publisher
South African Museum
Volume
105
Issue
2
Pages
207-226
Abstract
A revised account is given of the skull and partial skeleton of a small plesiosaur from the Lower Cretaceous (Upper Valanginian) Sundays River Formation of the Algoa Basin, South Africa. The specimen was originally described as Plesiosaurus capensis by C. W. Andrews in 1911, nominally as a 'small-headed' form of plesiosaurian, but is in fact a member of the 'large-headed', predaceous Pliosauroidea. Its apparent closest relative is the English 'Wealden' (Barremian) species, Leptocleidus superstes Andrews, 1922. Both specimens seem to be very similar to, but smaller than, the Liassic genus Rhomaleosaurus. The Sundays River Formation is of shallow marine to estuarine-lagoonal provenance. A brief review is included of other, particularly Southern Hemisphere, occurrences of marginal and non-marine Plesiosauria.
Language
English