Tony Thulborn

Susan Turner

Academic paper

Modern Geology

Gordon and Breach Science Publications S.A.

18

489-501

This paper examines the preservational peculiarities of an elasmosaurid plesiosaur skull from the Lower Cretaceous of central Queensland, Australia. This skull, previously referred to the genus Woolungasaurus, transpires to be so grossly distorted that even its basic anatomy will require complete reappraisal. Rere we present a brief clarification of the skull's original form and true orientation. Aside from being crushed and distorted, the Woolungasaurus skull bears a series of large tooth-marks, evidently inflicted by a predator. In their size and spacing these tooth-marks find their closest match in the dentition of the giant sympatric pliosaur Kronosaurus. These tooth-marks are the first direct evidence of pliosaur predation on an elasmosaur; they carry interesting implications for current understanding of pliosaur feeding behaviour.

Sauropterygia, elasmosaur, pliosaur, Cretaceous, Queensland, predation.

English