Lusonectes Explained

Lusonectes (meaning "Portuguese swimmer") is an extinct genus of microcleidid plesiosaur from the Early Jurassic (Toarcian) São Gião Formation of Portugal.

Etymology

The generic name is derived from the prefix Luso meaning "Portuguese" and nectes ("swimmer" in Greek). The specific name honors Henri Émile Sauvage, who was the first person to describe the holotype specimen.

Discovery and naming

The holotype, MG33, a partial skull and articulated mandible, was discovered possibly by geologist Paul Choffat and his team during the 19th century within rocks from the São Gião Formation near Murtede, Portugal.^[1]

Sauvage (1898) described MG33 as belonging to an unknown species of Plesiosaurus.^[2] Other authors, including Bardet et al. (2008)^[3] and Ruiz−Omeñaca et al. (2009)^[4] also classified MG33 within Plesiosaurus. Castanhinha and Mateus (2007)^[5] and Smith & Vincent (2010)^[6] instead classified the specimen as an indeterminate member of Plesiosauria.

The specimen was described and named by Adam S. Smith, Ricardo Araújo and Octávio Mateus in 2012 as Lusonectes sauvagei. Lusonectes was described as the first diagnostic plesiosaur species discovered in Portugal to date.

Description

It is based on a single autapomorphy, a broad triangular parasphenoid cultriform process that is as long as the posterior interpterygoid vacuities, and also on a unique character combination.

Classification

Smith, Araújo and Mateus (2012) found Lusonectes to belong to the Microcleididae when placed within a cladogram created by Ketchum and Benson (2010).^[7]

See also

• List of plesiosaur genera
• Timeline of plesiosaur research

Notes and References

1. Adam S. Smith . Ricardo Araújo . Octávio Mateus . 2012 . A new plesiosauroid from the Toarcian (Lower Jurassic) of Alhadas, Portugal . Acta Palaeontologica Polonica . 57 . 2 . 257–266 . 10.4202/app.2011.0023 . 55764533 . free.
2. Sauvage, H.E. (1897–1898). Vertébrés fossiles du Portugal. Contribution à l’étude des poissons et des reptiles du Jurassique et du Crétacique. Memó− rias Commissão do Serviço Geológico de Portugal 1897–1898: 1–46.
3. Bardet . Nathalie . Fernández . Marta . Garciáa-Ramos . José Carlos . Suberbiola . Xabier Pereda . Piñuela . Laura . Ruiz-Omeñaca . José Ignacio . Vincent . Peggy . 2008-03-12 . http://dx.doi.org/10.1671/0272-4634(2008)28[258:ajpftp2.0.co;2 A juvenile plesiosaur from the Pliensbachian (Lower Jurassic) of Asturias, Spain ]. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 28 . 1 . 258–263 . 10.1671/0272-4634(2008)28[258:ajpftp]2.0.co;2 . 0272-4634.
4. Ruiz−Omeñaca, J.I., Bardet, N., Piñuela, L., José Carlos García−Ramos, J.C., and Pereda−Suberbiola, X. (2009). El fósil de plesiosaurio (Sauro− pterygia) más antiguo de la Peninsula Ibérica: una vértebra procedente del Hettangiense−Sinemuriense de Asturias. Geogaceta 46: 79–82.
5. Castanhinha, R. and Mateus, O. (2007). Short review on the marine reptiles of Portugal: ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and mosasaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27: 57A.
6. Smith . Adam. S. . Vincent . Peggy . 2010-09-16 . A new genus of pliosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Lower Jurassic of Holzmaden, Germany: NEW PLIOSAUR FROM GERMANY . Palaeontology . en . 53 . 5 . 1049–1063 . 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2010.00975.x.
7. Ketchum . Hilary F. . Benson . Roger B. J. . 2010-04-12 . Global interrelationships of Plesiosauria (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) and the pivotal role of taxon sampling in determining the outcome of phylogenetic analyses . Biological Reviews . 85 . 2 . 361–392 . 10.1111/j.1469-185x.2009.00107.x . 1464-7931.