Trinacromerum
| Trinacromerum Temporal range: Late Cretaceous | |
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| Trinacromerum at Royal Ontario Museum | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Order: | Plesiosauria |
| Suborder: | Plesiosauroidea |
| Family: | Polycotylidae |
| Genus: | Trinacromerum |
Trinacromerum is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile belonging to the plesiosaur suborder. It lived during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Kansas.
Description
Trinacromerum with a human to scale.
It was 3 meters (9.8 feet) long. Its teeth show it fed on small fish.
The long flippers of Trinacromerum enabled it to achieve high swimming speeds.[1] Its physical appearance was described by Richard Ellis as akin to a "four-flippered penguin."[2]
Classification
Profile view of Trinacromerum
Trinacromerum bentonianum from the Late Cretaceous of Kansas
Below is a cladogram of polycotylid relationships from Ketchum & Benson, 2011.[3]
| Plesiosauroidea |
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See also
References
- ↑ Ellis, Richard (2003). Sea Dragons: Predators of the Prehistoric Oceans. University Press of Kansas. p. 189. ISBN 0-7006-1269-6.
- ↑ Ellis, 190
- ↑ Hilary F. Ketchum and Roger B. J. Benson (2011). "A new pliosaurid (Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria) from the Oxford Clay Formation (Middle Jurassic, Callovian) of England: evidence for a gracile, longirostrine grade of Early-Middle Jurassic pliosaurids". Special Papers in Palaeontology 86: 109–129. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2011.01083.x.
External links
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Wikispecies has information related to: Trinacromerum |
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