Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ndmmz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-22T13:58:36.140Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Earliest North American occurrence of Polycotylidae (Sauropterygia: Plesiosauria) from the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) Clearwater Formation, Alberta, Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Patrick S. Druckenmiller  and
Anthony P. Russell
Patrick S. Druckenmiller
Affiliation:
University of Alaska Museum and University of Alaska Fairbanks Department of Geology and Geophysics, 907 Yukon Dr., Fairbanks 99775,
Anthony P. Russell
Affiliation:
Vertebrate Morphology and Palaeontology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4,
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The polycotylidae is a family of short-necked (pliosauromorph) plesiosaurs, with examples known from epicontinental marine deposits of every major landmass except Antarctica. Our knowledge of its diversity and distribution has increased tremendously in the last decade, with new material described from North America (Sato, 2005; Albright et al., 2007; Schumacher, 2007; Schmeisser, 2008), South America (Gasparini and de la Fuente, 2000; Salgado et al., 2007), Africa (Bardet et al., 2003; Buchy et al., 2005), and Asia (Sato and Storrs, 2000; Arkhangel'skii et al., 2007). Polycotylid diversity is greatest in the Late Cretaceous, and particularly so in the Turonian; however, knowledge of the group's initial history in the Early Cretaceous is limited to a handful of specimens from North America (Storrs, 1981; Druckenmiller, 2002) and Australia (Kear 2003, 2005).

Type
Paleontological Notes
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 83 , Issue 6 , November 2009 , pp. 981 - 989
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, D. A. 1997. Trinacromerum bonneri, new species, last and fastest pliosaur of the Western Interior Seaway. Texas Journal of Science, 49(3):179–198.Google Scholar
Albright, L. B. III, Gillette, D. D., and Titus, A. L. 2007. Plesiosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) Tropic Shale of southern Utah; Part 2, Polycotylidae. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 27(1):41–58.Google Scholar
Arkhangel'skii, M. S., Averianov, A. O., and Pervushov, E. M. 2007. Short-necked plesiosaurs of the Family Polycotylidae from the Campanian of the Saratov Region. Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal, 41(6):656–660.Google Scholar
Bardet, N., Pereda Suberbiola, X., and Jalil, N.-E. 2003. A new polycotylid plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Turonian) of Morocco. Comptes Rendus Palevol, 2(5):307–315.Google Scholar
Blainville, H. D. de. 1835. Description de quelques espèces de reptiles de la Californie, précédée de l'analyse d'un système general d'Erpetologie et 'Amphibiologie. Nouvelles Annales du Muséum (national) d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, 4:233–296.Google Scholar
Brown, D. S. 1981. The English Upper Jurassic Plesiosauroidea (Reptilia) and a review of the phylogeny and classification of the Plesiosauria. Bulletin, British Museum of Natural History (Geology), 35(4):253–347.Google Scholar
Buchy, M.-C., Métayer, F., and Frey, E. 2005. Osteology of Manemergus anguirostris n. gen. et sp., a new plesiosaur (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) from the Upper Cretaceous of Morocco. Palaeontographica Abteilung A, 272(5–6):97–120.Google Scholar
Burden, E. T. 1984. Terrestrial palynomorph biostratigraphy of the lower part of the Mannville Group (Lower Cretaceous), Alberta and Montana, p. 249–269. In Stott, D. F. and Glass, D. J. (eds.), The Mesozoic of middle North America. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 9.Google Scholar
Caldwell, M. W. 1997. Limb osteology and ossification patterns in Cryptoclidus (Reptilia; Plesiosauroidea) with a review of sauropterygian limbs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 17(2):295–307.Google Scholar
Caldwell, W. G. E., Diner, R., Eicher, D. L., Fowler, S. P., North, B. R., Stelck, C. R., and Wilhelm, L. 1993. Foraminiferal biostratigraphy of Cretaceous marine cyclothems, p. 477–520. In Caldwell, W. G. E. and Kauffman, E. G. (eds.), Evolution of the Western Interior Basin. Geological Association of Canada Special Paper 39.Google Scholar
Carpenter, K. 1996. A review of short-necked plesiosaurs from the Cretaceous of the Western Interior, North America. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen, 201(2):259–287.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1869. Synopsis of the extinct Batrachia, Reptilia and Aves of North America. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, new series, 14:1–252.Google Scholar
Cruickshank, A. R. I., Fordyce, R. E., and Long, J. A. 1999. Recent developments in Australasian sauropterygian palaeontology (Reptilia: Sauropterygia). Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement No. 57:201–205.Google Scholar
Druckenmiller, P. S. 2002. Osteology of a new plesiosaur from the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) Thermopolis Shale of Montana. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 22(1):29–42.Google Scholar
Druckenmiller, P. S. and Russell, A. P. 2008a. Skeletal anatomy of an exceptionally complete specimen of a new genus of plesiosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Early Albian) of northeastern Alberta, Canada. Palaeontographica Abteilung A 283(1–3):1–33.Google Scholar
Druckenmiller, P. S. and Russell, A. P. 2008b. A phylogeny of Plesiosauria (Sauropterygia) and its bearing on the systematic status of Leptocleidus Andrews, 1922. Zootaxa 1863:1–120.Google Scholar
Everhart, M. J. 2003. First records of plesiosaur remains in the lower Smoky Hill Chalk Member (upper Coniacian) of the Niobrara Formation in western Kansas. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science, 106(3–4):139–148.Google Scholar
Everhart, M. J., Decker, R., and Decker, P. 2006. Earliest remains of Dolichorhynchops osborni (Plesiosauria: Polycotylidae) from the basal Fort Hays Limestone, Jewell County, Kansas. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science, 106(3–4):251.Google Scholar
Flach, P. D. 1984. Oil Sands Geology - Athabasca deposit north. Alberta Research Council Bulletin 46, Edmonton, Alberta, 31 p.Google Scholar
Gasparini, Z., and de la Fuente, M. 2000. Tortugas y plesiosaurios de la Formación la Colonia (Cretácio superior) de Patagonia, Argentina. Revista Española de Paleontología, 15(1):23–35.Google Scholar
Gradstein, F. M., Ogg, J. G., and Smith, A. G. 2004. A geologic time scale 2004. Cambridge University Press, 589 p.Google Scholar
Hampe, O. 1992. Ein großwüchsiger Pliosauridae (Reptilia: Plesiosauria) aus der Unterkreide (oberes Aptium) von Kolumbien. Courier Forschungs Institut Senckenberg, 145:1–32.Google Scholar
Hayes, B. J. R., Christopher, J. E., Rosenthal, L., Los, G., McKercher, B., Minken, D. F., Tremblay, Y. M., Fennell, J. W., and Smith, D. G. 1994. Cretaceous Mannville Group of the Western Canada sedimentary basin, p. 317–334. In Mossop, G. D. and Shetsen, I. (eds.), Geological Atlas of the Western Canada sedimentary basin. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists and Alberta Research Council.Google Scholar
Jeletzky, J. A. 1968. Macrofossil zones of the marine Cretaceous of the Western Interior of Canada and their correlation with the zones and stages of Europe and the Western Interior of the United States. Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 67–72, 66 p.Google Scholar
Kauffman, E. G., Sagemann, B. B., Kirkland, J. I., Elder, W. P., Harries, P. J., and Villamil, T. 1993. Molluscan biostratigraphy of the Cretaceous Western Interior Basin, North America, p. 397–434. In Caldwell, W. G. E. and Kauffman, E. G. (eds.), Evolution of the Western Interior Basin. Geological Association of Canada Special Paper 39.Google Scholar
Kear, B. P. 2003. Cretaceous marine reptiles of Australia: a review of taxonomy and distribution. Cretaceous Research, 24(2003):277–303.Google Scholar
Kear, B. P. 2005. Marine reptiles from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) deposits of White Cliffs, southeastern Australia: implications of a high latitude, cold water assemblage. Cretaceous Research, 26(2005):769–782.Google Scholar
Kear, B. P. 2006. Marine reptiles from the Lower Cretaceous of South Australia: elements of a high-latitude cold-water assemblage. Palaeontology, 49(4):837–856.Google Scholar
Kear, B. P., Schroeder-Adams, C. J., and Lee, M. S. Y. 2006. An archaic crested plesiosaur in opal from the Lower Cretaceous high-latitude deposits of Australia. Biology Letters, 2(4):615–619.Google Scholar
Longman, H. 1924. A new gigantic marine reptile from the Queensland Cretaceous. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 8:26–28.Google Scholar
McLearn, F. H. 1933. Pelecypods of the Lower Cretaceous Clearwater Formation, northern Alberta. Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 27 (Section IV): 139–156.Google Scholar
Mellon, G. B. and Wall, J. H. 1956. Foraminifera of the upper McMurray and basal Clearwater Formations. Alberta Research Council Report 72, Edmonton, Alberta, 43 p.Google Scholar
Otschev (Ochev), V. G. 1976. A new pliosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of the Penza Region. Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal, 1976:135–138. (In Russian) Google Scholar
O'Keefe, F. R. 2004. Preliminary description and phylogenetic position of a new plesiosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Toarcian of Holzmaden, Germany. Journal of Paleontology, 78(5):973–988.Google Scholar
O'Keefe, F. R. 2008. Cranial anatomy and taxonomy of Dolichorhynchops bonneri new combination, a polycotylid (Sauropterygia: Plesiosauria) from the Pierre Shale of Wyoming and South Dakota. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 28(3):664–676.Google Scholar
Owen, R. 1860. On the orders of fossil and Recent Reptilia, and their distribution in time. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 29:153–166.Google Scholar
Phillips, J. 1871. Geology of Oxford and the valley of the Thames. Oxford University Press, UK, Oxford, 523 p.Google Scholar
Russell, L. S. 1935. A plesiosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Manitoba. Journal of Paleontology, 9(5):385–389.Google Scholar
Salgado, L., Parras, A., and Gasparini, Z. 2007. Un plesiosaurio de cuello corto (Plesiosauroidea, Polycotylidae) del Cretácico superior del norte de Patagonia. Ameghiniana, 44(2):349–358.Google Scholar
Sato, T. 2005. A new polycotylid plesiosaur (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) from the Upper Cretaceous Bearpaw Formation in Saskatchewan, Canada. Journal of Paleontology, 79(5):969–980.Google Scholar
Sato, T. and Storrs, G. W. 2000. An early polycotylid plesiosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Cretaceous of Hokkaido, Japan. Journal of Paleontology, 74(5):907–914.Google Scholar
Schmeisser, R. 2008. A new species of polycotylid plesiosaur from the early Turonian of Utah: extending the stratigraphic range of North American Dolichorhynchops. 28(Supplement to No. 3):137A.Google Scholar
Schumacher, B. A. 2007. A new polycotylid plesiosaur (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) from the Greenhorn Limestone (Upper Cretaceous, lower upper Cenomanian), Black Hills, South Dakota. Geological Society of America Special Paper, 427:133–146.Google Scholar
Seeley, H. G. 1869. Index to the fossil remains of Aves, Ornithosauria, and Reptilia in the Woodwardian Museum of the University of Cambridge. Cambridge University Press, 143 p.Google Scholar
Smith, A. S. and Dyke, G. J. 2008. The skull of the giant predatory pliosaur Rhomaleosaurus cramptoni: implications for plesiosaur phylogenetics. Naturwissenschaften, 95:975–980.Google Scholar
Stelck, C. R. and Kramers, J. W. 1980. Freboldiceras from the Grand Rapids Formation of north-central Alberta. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, 28(4):509–521.Google Scholar
Storrs, G. W. 1981. A review of occurrences of the Plesiosauria (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) in Texas with description of new material. Unpublished , , Austin, 226 p.Google Scholar
Storrs, G. W., Arkhangel'skii, M. S., and Efimov, V. M. 2000. Mesozoic marine reptiles of Russia and other former Soviet republics, p. 187–210. In Benton, M. J., Shishkin, M. A., Unwin, D. M., and Kurochkin, E. N. (eds.), The Age of Dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Swofford, D. L. 2002. PAUP: Phylogenetic Analysis Using Parsimony (and other methods) for Macintosh. Version 4.0b10. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Welles, S. P. and Gregg, D. R. 1971. Late Cretaceous Marine Reptiles of New Zealand. Records of the Canterbury Museum, 9(1):1–111.Google Scholar
Wiffen, J. and Moisley, W. L. 1986. Late Cretaceous reptiles (families Elasmosauridae and Pliosauridae) from the Mangahouanga Stream, North Island, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 29(2):205–251.Google Scholar
Williams, G. D., Baadsgaard, H., and Steen, G. 1962. Potassiumargon mineral dates from the Mannville Group. Journal of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, 10(6):320–325.Google Scholar
Williston, S. W. 1902. Restoration of Dolichorhynchops osborni, a new Cretaceous plesiosaur. The University of Kansas Science Bulletin, 1(9):241–244.Google Scholar
Williston, S. W. 1903. North American plesiosaurs, Part 1. Field Columbian Museum Publication 73, Geological Series, 2(1):1–77.Google Scholar
Williston, S. W. 1907. The skull of Brachauchenius, with observations on the relationships of the plesiosaurs. Proceedings of the National Museum, 32(1540):477–493.Google Scholar
Williston, S. W. 1908. North American plesiosaurs: Trinacromerum . Journal of Geology, 16:715–736.Google Scholar