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A Cladistic Analysis And Taxonomic Revision Of The Plesiosauria (Reptilia: Sauropterygia), F. Robin O’Keefe
A Cladistic Analysis And Taxonomic Revision Of The Plesiosauria (Reptilia: Sauropterygia), F. Robin O’Keefe
F. Robin O’Keefe
The Plesiosauria (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) is a group of Mesozoic marine reptiles known from abundant material, with specimens described from all continents. The group originated very near the Triassic–Jurassic boundary and persisted to the end- Cretaceous mass extinction. This study describes the results of a specimen-based cladistic study of the Plesiosauria, based on examination of 34 taxa scored for 166 morphological characters. The Pliosauroidea is found to by polyphyletic due to the inclusion of the Polycotylidae; this second clade is instead a member of the Plesiosauroidea, and thus more closely related to elasmosaurs than to other ‘pliosaurs’. Characters of body proportion …