Mark Evans

Academic paper

Mercian Geologist

14

4

191-196

A new reconstruction of the skull of the elasmosaurid plesiosaur Muraenosaurus leedsii is presented, based on a partial but well preserved specimen. The bony labyrinth of the inner ear is used to Orient the skull in the horizontal plane. In the new reconstruction, the skull is higher, width more anteriorly directed orbits and a more vertical suspensorium. This reconstruction suggests that Muraenosaurus had a more powerful jaw action than coeval cryptoclidid plesiosaurs.

English