Elasmosauridae

Elasmosauridae, often called elasmosaurs or elasmosaurids, is an extinct family of plesiosaurs that lived from the Hauterivian stage of the Early Cretaceous to the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous period. The taxon was initially erected in 1869 by Edward Drinker Cope to include the type genus Elasmosaurus with the related Cimoliasaurus, although he did not argue in detail why. Over the following years, many authors recognized this classification on the basis of predominantly postcranial features, becoming one of the three groups in which plesiosaurs were often classified during the 19th century, along with the Pliosauridae and the Plesiosauridae. However, most of these traits led to many genera since recognized as belonging to other plesiosaur families being classified as elasmosaurids. Another family historically considered as distinct, the Cimoliasauridae, has since 2009 been recognized as a junior synonym of the Elasmosauridae. Along with the Polycotylidae, elasmosaurids represent the few plesiosauroids that lived until the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.

Elasmosauridae

MCDinosaurhunter · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
elasmosaurPBDB
Sits inside
PlesiosauroideaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Plesiosauria
Life habit
aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Plesiosauria
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Plesiosauria
Environment
marinePBDB, for Plesiosauria

Time the record covers

At least 138 million years on record.

The record covers at least 211.18 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 227.3 Mya to 56 Mya.

Late Triassic — about 1 of 309 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 1 of 309 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 2 of 309 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 6 of 309 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 31 of 309 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 267 of 309 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 1 of 309 occurrencesEocene — about 0 of 309 occurrences231–225 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences225–219 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences219–213 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences213–207 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences195–189 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences189–183 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences177–171 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences171–165 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences165–159 Mya — about 1 occurrence159–154 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences154–148 Mya — about 4 occurrences148–142 Mya — about 3 occurrences142–136 Mya — about 2 occurrences136–130 Mya — about 5 occurrences130–124 Mya — about 4 occurrences124–118 Mya — about 4 occurrences118–112 Mya — about 3 occurrences112–106 Mya — about 5 occurrences106–100 Mya — about 9 occurrences100–94 Mya — about 16 occurrences94–88 Mya — about 15 occurrences88–82 Mya — about 33 occurrences82–76 Mya — about 43 occurrences76–70 Mya — about 68 occurrences70–64 Mya — about 92 occurrences64–59 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences59–53 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences211.18 Mya72.2 Mya231 Mya53 Mya

309 occurrences of Elasmosauridae on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

309 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

91 formations

Conway — 42.85°S, 173.28°EConway — 43.05°S, 172.58°EConway — 42.58°S, 173.49°EConway — 43.06°S, 172.58°EConway — 42.85°S, 173.27°ELópez de Bertodano — 64.27°S, 56.72°WLópez de Bertodano — 64.31°S, 56.86°WLópez de Bertodano — 63.86°S, 57.57°WLópez de Bertodano — 64.28°S, 56.76°WTahora — 38.92°S, 176.83°ETahora — 39.00°S, 176.75°EAllen — 40.06°S, 66.80°WAllen — 40.02°S, 66.71°WAllen — 39.75°S, 66.75°WAllen — 39.47°S, 67.33°WAllen — 38.78°S, 68.08°WAllen — 39.57°S, 66.98°WAllen — 38.74°S, 68.06°WAllen — 39.91°S, 66.57°WSnow Hill Island — 63.93°S, 57.85°WSnow Hill Island — 63.88°S, 57.59°WPierre Shale — 38.90°N, 101.13°WPierre Shale — 43.41°N, 103.31°WPierre Shale — 39.01°N, 101.37°WPierre Shale — 43.38°N, 104.22°WPierre Shale — 43.63°N, 99.36°WPierre Shale — 43.31°N, 104.22°WPierre Shale — 39.00°N, 101.00°WPierre Shale — 42.70°N, 96.82°WQuiriquina — 36.61°S, 73.06°WQuiriquina — 36.59°S, 72.98°WQuiriquina — 36.72°S, 73.12°WQuiriquina — 35.80°S, 72.57°WLa Colonia — 42.95°S, 67.55°WLa Colonia — 42.92°S, 67.47°WLa Colonia — 42.96°S, 67.55°WLa Colonia — 42.83°S, 68.45°WDinosaur Park — 50.75°N, 111.41°WDinosaur Park — 50.83°N, 111.60°WDinosaur Park — 50.75°N, 111.42°WDinosaur Park — 49.12°N, 110.47°WDinosaur Park — 50.74°N, 111.47°WDinosaur Park — 50.76°N, 111.49°WDinosaur Park — 50.68°N, 108.09°WAgrio — 37.42°S, 70.34°WAgrio — 38.05°S, 70.05°WAgrio — 38.04°S, 70.03°WAgrio — 38.38°S, 70.03°WAgrio — 38.20°S, 70.05°WNiobrara — 38.75°N, 100.73°WNiobrara — 38.95°N, 101.16°WNiobrara — 38.93°N, 100.53°WNiobrara — 39.67°N, 98.21°WMoreno — 36.50°N, 120.69°WMoreno — 36.72°N, 120.72°WMocuio — 14.27°S, 12.38°EDorotea — 51.40°S, 72.40°WDorotea — 51.07°S, 72.50°WDorotea — 51.79°S, 72.44°WDorotea — 50.73°S, 72.47°WNavesink — 40.31°N, 74.22°WNavesink — 39.74°N, 75.18°WNavesink — 40.13°N, 74.51°WNavesink — 40.38°N, 74.21°WToolebuc — 20.72°S, 142.67°EToolebuc — 20.87°S, 143.58°EToolebuc — 20.70°S, 142.07°EToolebuc — 23.63°S, 145.13°EMaastricht — 50.82°N, 5.69°EMaastricht — 50.84°N, 5.78°ESevern — 38.91°N, 76.85°WSevern — 38.91°N, 76.85°WSevern — 38.96°N, 76.71°WHaslam — 49.69°N, 125.05°WHaslam — 49.60°N, 124.98°WHaslam — 49.73°N, 125.11°WConway Siltstone — 42.55°S, 173.50°ELaidmore — 43.05°S, 172.76°EBearpaw Shale — 46.39°N, 107.18°WBearpaw Shale — 47.64°N, 109.35°WBearpaw Shale — 47.78°N, 106.68°WSanta Marta — 63.88°S, 57.91°WSanta Marta — 63.90°S, 57.85°WLopez de Bertodano — 64.22°S, 56.72°WLopez de Bertodano — 64.25°S, 56.75°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Elasmosauridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 67 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 62 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Elasmosauridae and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Elasmosauridae and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

1,085 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 277 sites for Elasmosauridae, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

179 references

Each of the 309 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 167 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Elasmosauridae

Credit
MCDinosaurhunter
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPlesiosauroidea through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cope 1869